Hostess Job Description in 2022 with 5+ Examples

by Hiration

A host or a hostess is an essential part of the hospitality industry.

They welcome guests, assist them in finding seats, make them comfortable, understand their requirements, and provide the best service to them.

Hostesses always have to be on their toes to ensure the restaurant keeps a constant and effective dining flow.

Usually, hosts and hostesses are in high demand in event organizations, restaurant businesses, and hotels.

With this definitive guide, you will receive insights into what a perfect hostess job description for a resume looks like.

We will Learn:

What is a Hostess Job?

Hostesses mostly work in the food industry ranging from casual dining to fancy fine dining restaurants. They are involved in welcoming customers as soon as they enter, assigning tables to guests according to their requirements, taking orders, and delivering food to tables.

Hostesses are also involved in cleaning tables and maintaining proper sanitation in the dining area.

Lead Hostess Job Description

Here is a sample head hostess job description for your understanding:

We are a busy restaurant in New York looking for an experienced hostess. You will greet guests, manage other hostesses, answer customer queries, and ensure the clients have a good time.

Lead Hostess Job Responsibilities

  • Greet guests, assist them in finding their seats, and relating with clients at the time of arrival and leave
  • Present the guests with menu and drink lists and communicate with clients to collect their special requirements.
  • Inspect dining area to ensure proper cleanliness by following OSHA regulations
  • Explain dishes and preparation process to clients as per their requests
  • Receive guest's calls and book reservations for them
  • Supervise other waitresses and coordinate activities in the dining area and kitchen to ensure prompt service
  • Review restaurant operations to improve efficiency and increase the dining flow for maximizing customer satisfaction
  • Communicate with the restaurant manager to resolve customer complaints
  • Prepare bills and present them to customers. Use POS machine to collect payments from customers
  • Oversee the restaurant inventory and restock items such as raw vegetables, meat, tableware, salt, paper, sugar, condiment, and napkins based on weekly requirements

Requirements

  • High school diploma or equivalent education
  • Age: 18+
  • Should be able to work in a fast-paced environment and provide excellent customer service
  • Can work without supervision
  • Ability to lift heavy objects
  • Can follow instructions properly and ask questions if needed
  • Ability to handle money with accuracy and use POS system
  • 1-2 years of experience is a plus

VIP Hostess Job Description

VIP hostesses’ responsibilities include attending to the VIP guests and important clients.

Here are the job responsibilities of a VIP Hostess:

  • Attend to VIP customers and provide premium guest experience to them
  • Coordinate and supervise all needs of the VIP client in the dining room
  • Escort VIP guests to their seats
  • Provide personal attention to guests and ensure they have the best experience
  • Find and arrange appropriate sitting positions for clients and their requests
  • Maintain cleanliness at the dining area by adhering to restaurant standards
  • Provide assistance in menu planning for the restaurant or special occasions

Apart from these responsibilities, VIP hostesses can schedule appointments, manage dining reservations, train new hires, and organize events for clients on special occasions.

VIP Hostess Minimum Requirements:

A successful VIP hostess has several soft and hard skills including excellent interpersonal skills, customer service skills, and issue resolution skills. Here are some requirements to apply for a VIO Hostess position:

  • Education: Associate Degree or Bachelor’s degree in hotel management
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • 1 Year of experience in the hospitality industry
  • Excellent writing and communication skills
  • Ability to adapt to any situation and comfortable with handling difficult clients
  • Impeccable customer service skills
  • Ability to work under stress

Entry-Level Restaurant Hostess Job Description

Here is an entry-level restaurant hostess job description for your understanding.

Hostess Job Duties

  • Open doors for guests
  • Greet guests at the time of entrance
  • Assist the guests to find a suitable table
  • Fill up reservation charts and ensure there is no overlapping
  • Attend calls and assist guests by providing accurate information about menu items and prices to make proper decisions
  • Manage kitchen inventory and report to the restaurant manager about stock availability
  • Check supplies and raw vegetables at the time of restocking to identify wrong products

Requirements

  • Must be a team player.
  • Should have the ability to follow restaurant policies
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Have decent physical strengths
  • Able to dress properly and gracefully
  • Have a high-school diploma or equivalent
  • Age: 16+

Hostess Job Description Skills

Most students join as hosts and hostesses to pay their bills. That’s why restaurants and companies emphasize their soft skills over experience.

Here are some hostess job description skills you need to shine as a hostess:

1. Customer Service Skills

A host or hostess is the first point of contact between customers and the restaurant. So you need to make sure that you develop good customer service skills to start working as a hostess.

One of the prime hostess's job duties is to keep calm at times of distress or while interacting with rude customers and should be able to resolve conflicts as necessary.

2. Communication Skills

Communication is the core skill hosts and hostesses should have. Hostesses not only have to interact with the customers, but they also have to communicate with restaurant staff, managers, vendors, and other prospects with optimal professionalism.

3. Organizational Skills

A hostess has to keep track of bookings, take orders from tablets and ensure every customer gets what they want. And it’s essential to be organized at the workplace to ensure effective workflow.

4. Listening Skills

A hostess must have excellent listening abilities since it will allow them to understand the customer’s requirements well. Listening skills are also essential to resolve customers’ questions and de-escalate situations.

5. Team Player Skills

Running all operations in a restaurant effectively is a team effort. An excellent host or a hostess will see if any part of the operation needs an extra hand, and they will lend a helping hand without anyone even asking.

6. Multitasking Abilities

A host or hostess has to manage many responsibilities beyond their core functions. They sometimes have to handle the front desk, take calls, reserve bookings, and answer customers’ queries.

And, they need to be excellent multitaskers to handle all these jobs effectively.

7. Technical Knowledge

Computer skills are essential nowadays. Especially when restaurants are integrating advanced computer technology into the systems. Hosts and hostesses need to have primary computer and technical skills to operate these machines effectively to provide clients with a smooth service.

How to Highlight Hostess Job Description Skills on Hostess Resume?

Host and hostess jobs are an excellent way to make money if you are a student or preparing for higher education. However, since most students apply for a host or hostess, there is a steep competition to get a job.

In this tough competition, if you need a hostess job, you need to create a stellar hostess resume.

You can add the skills in 3 sections on the Hostess resume:

Summary

Try to add one or two of your achievements and relevant skills to the hostess resume summary to optimize it based on the job description. Make sure to wrap up the resume summary within 3-4 sentences.

Example:

Key Skills Section

Read the job description carefully and identify relevant skills and keywords we can add to the resume. Add these keywords to the resume in a separate “[Key Skills](hiration. com/blog/resume-skills/)” section.

Example:

• Customer Servicing • Guest Attendance • Hygiene & Sanitation • Payroll Management • Relationship Management • Issue Resolution • Inventory Management • Safety Compliance • Feedback Collection • OSHA Regulations

Professional Experience Section

The professional experience section on your resume is also an effective place to showcase your key skills. However, you need to ensure that skills are backed by useful statistics in the professional experience section.

Here’s an example of the Professional Experience Section on Hostess Resume:

Hostess: Frequently Asked Questions

What do hosts and hostesses do?

Ans: A host or a hostess welcomes customers, assists them to find comfortable seats, books reservations, takes orders, and serves food to guests. Moreover, they also help with other restaurant operations, such as inventory management, payment management, etc. You can find all the job responsibilities in the hostess job description when applying for the job.

What is the difference between Hostess and Waitress?

Ans: You may think that hostess and waitress jobs are similar. However, there are slight differences between them.

Hostesses greet guests and help them find their seats, assigning them a waiter or waitress who then takes care of their orders. Some restaurants have only one person do the job of both waitress and hostess. But in high-end restaurants, hostesses generally take care of the front-house jobs, including customer assistance and issue resolution. And waitresses coordinate between the kitchen and the guest to deliver food and ensure guests get their orders on time.

What are the qualities of a good Hostess?

Ans: To become a good hostess, you must have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to keep calm in difficult situations. You also need to be alert at all times to keep track of all aspects of dining operations, including how many waitresses are managing tables, how many guests are there, which tables will be available next, etc. They also need to be empathetic to understand customers’ requests and queries and help them resolve their problems.

Who manages hostesses?

Ans: Hostesses report to restaurant managers or head servers. This depends on the size of the organization. If it’s a big restaurant, they may have a general manager who manages the whole restaurant operation. If it’s a small restaurant, hostesses may directly report to the restaurant owner.

Usually, hostesses consult with their managers or supervisors to plan daily operations and ensure an optimum dining flow is maintained throughout.

What do recruiters look for on a Hostess's resume?

Ans: A hostesses’ resume should reflect their excellent customer service experience working in a restaurant. This will help the resume get shortlisted for an interview. In fine dining restaurants, they have strict protocols and regulations. The hostess’s resume should reflect that the candidate can quickly work under pressure and multitask efficiently.

Final Words

If you are a hostess or looking for a hostess job, you should customize the resume according to the hostess job description.

You need to find the relevant skills mentioned in the job description and include the skills in the resume summary, key skills section, and professional experience section.

If you are looking to create a hostess resume, go to Hiration Online Resume Builder and choose from 20+ professional resume designs to create one for yourself.

If you have any other questions, feel free to email us at team@hiration.com, and we will get back to you ASAP.