Free hotel concierge interview questions for the manager running the hire: 5 question sets with good-answer notes, a 20-minute desk test, and a scorecard.
Five question sets for the owner or manager running the hire, each question with a note on what a good answer sounds like, plus a twenty-minute desk test with a marking key and a weighted scorecard. Download as DOCX and XLSX.
The hardest thing about hiring a hotel concierge is that the interview rewards the wrong skill. Making a stranger feel looked after inside two minutes is the job, and it is also what the candidate is doing to you across the desk. I have watched managers come out of a concierge interview certain they had found someone, on the strength of an hour that never once resembled a Friday at four o'clock.
At FirstHR we build for owners and managers who run this hire personally, without a recruiter and usually while the desk is already uncovered. So this kit is built around the parts of a hotel desk that charm cannot fake: the arrivals list, three departments that have to move, the handover note, the commission a vendor offers quietly, and the 3am call.
There are five question sets here plus a scorecard workbook, and every question carries a note on what a good answer sounds like. There is also a twenty-minute desk test, because at some point you have to watch someone work the phone rather than talk about working the phone.
TL;DR
Interview a hotel concierge on five things: shift preparation, cross-department coordination, triage under a stacked queue, commission and privacy judgment, and schedule reliability. Ask the same core set of everyone, then run a twenty-minute desk test with four scored tasks. Federal data puts the concierge median at $18.73 an hour. Download five sets and an XLSX scorecard.
What a Hotel Concierge Owns on Your Property
A hotel concierge owns the guest requests that no system handles automatically: reservations, tickets, transport, deliveries, itineraries, and the recoveries that follow when one of those falls through. The distinction that matters for the interview is that a concierge works outward, into the city and across your departments, while the front desk works inward, on arrivals, folios and rooms.
That difference decides which questions belong in the room. Front office competence is about accuracy under a queue. Concierge competence is about resourcefulness and follow-through on requests that have no standard procedure, which is much harder to see in a conversation. If the posting is really a front office job, the hotel front desk description and the front desk questions fit better than this page.
Owned by the concierge desk
Owned by front office
Restaurant, ticket and activity bookings
Check-in, check-out and room assignment
Transport, transfers and late-car recovery
Folio, payment and billing disputes
Vendor relationships across the city
Reservation system and rate accuracy
Guest preference notes that compound across stays
Keys, room moves and housekeeping requests
Itineraries and requests with no standard procedure
Arrivals queue accuracy under time pressure
Both desks share a lobby and both talk to every department, so the titles blur in practice at smaller properties. Interview for the job as it will actually be worked, not for the word on the org chart. Our hiring templates cover the neighboring roles if the scope turns out to be mixed.
Decide Which Desk You Are Hiring For
Decide the desk profile before you write a single question, because a boutique concierge and a resort concierge are graded on almost opposite strengths. The boutique desk needs range and independence; the resort desk needs planning stamina across a week-long stay. Choosing first stops you from interviewing a generic hospitality personality.
Boutique or independent, one desk
The concierge is also the person who fixes the printer
Local knowledge matters more than protocol
Hire for range and for comfort working alone
Full-service or luxury
A standard the guest already expects on arrival
Vendor relationships across dining, transport and tickets
Hire for network depth and for consistency
Resort or destination
Activities, excursions and family planning dominate
Long guest stays, so preferences compound
Hire for planning and for patience across a week
Extended stay or apartment-hotel
Guests behave like residents by week two
Deliveries, services and routine requests repeat
Hire for consistency and for boundaries
Match the Sets to the Desk
Boutique or independent property: the property core set plus the desk test. Full-service or luxury: add the commission and privacy set, because the vendor economy is largest here. Any role covering nights or single coverage: add the overnight set and do not hire on a daytime interview alone. Hiring the person who runs the desk: add the chef concierge set. Every candidate, in every case, gets the same scorecard filled in before the next one arrives.
6 Free Hotel Concierge Question Sets to Download
Download all six as a single zip, or take individual files. Five are Word documents holding the question sets, the good-answer notes and the checklists. The sixth is a spreadsheet with the weighted scorecard, the desk test marking sheet, a candidate comparison tab and a reference call log.
Download All 6 Hotel Concierge Templates
Property core set, desk test, commission and privacy set, overnight set, chef concierge set, and the XLSX scorecard. Five DOCX files and one XLSX, in a single zip.
Property Core Set
Every candidate, every property
Ten questions about the shift on your floor: arrivals prep, the check-in rush, moving three departments, traces and handovers, returning guests, and the line between what the desk approves and what a manager approves.
Desk Test and Marking Key
Twenty minutes, four tasks
A work sample instead of another question: a pre-arrival email to answer, a live call to a full restaurant, a rainy-day plan for a guest with mobility limits, and a handover note to triage. Scored zero to two per task.
Commissions, Tips, and Privacy
The money questions
Nine questions on the referral economy the desk sits inside: vendor commissions and disclosure, gifts, tip reporting, folio secrecy, callers asking who is staying, and a colleague with a cash arrangement.
Overnight and Lone Desk
Nights and single coverage
The shift with no manager on property: the 3am medical call, a lockout with no ID, a non-guest in the lobby, intoxication, authority limits, the dead hours, and the handover the morning shift reads.
Chef Concierge and Lead
Hiring the person who runs the desk
Coverage arithmetic for a seven-day desk, training a new concierge, holding standards, coaching after a complaint, making vendor relationships belong to the property, budget, and monthly reporting.
Scorecard and Tracker (XLSX)
Score, compare, reference
A weighted seven-area scorecard with evidence columns, the desk test marking sheet, a candidate comparison tab, and a reference call log built around reliability, guest recoveries, and cash conduct.
Set 1: Property Core Questions
The set every candidate gets: what they check before the first arrival, a request that needed three departments, sixty seconds of triage, how a request survives a shift change, and where their own authority ends. Ten questions with good-answer notes.
Hotel Concierge Interview Questions: Property Core Set
HOTEL CONCIERGE INTERVIEW: PROPERTY CORE SET
Candidate: __
Property: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set for every hotel concierge candidate, at any property size. It tests
the part of the job that happens on your floor rather than out in the city: the
arrivals list, the check-in rush, the departments the desk has to move, the
notes that survive a shift change, and the line between what the concierge
approves and what a manager approves.
Ask seven or eight of these in the same order for every candidate so the answers
are comparable. The note under each question tells you what a good answer sounds
like, so you can score it without having worked a desk yourself.
QUESTIONS
1. Forty arrivals land between three and five today. What do you look at before
the first guest reaches the desk?
(Good answer: reads the arrivals list at shift start, flags returning guests,
anniversaries, late flights and mobility notes, pre-books what can be
pre-booked, checks the weather and what is closed today.)
2. Tell me about a request that needed three departments to move. How did you
run it?
(Good answer: names the departments, says who they called first and why, and
describes chasing it rather than sending a request and hoping.)
3. You are on hold with a restaurant, a second guest is waiting, and the phone
rings. What happens in the next sixty seconds?
(Good answer: acknowledges the waiting guest out loud, does not abandon the
hold, triages by what is time-critical, and writes down what is still open.)
4. How do you record a request so the next shift can finish it without asking
the guest to repeat themselves?
(Good answer: a specific system, a trace or task in the property system, a
shared log, or a handover sheet, with the guest name, the deadline and the
current status, not a memory or a sticky note.)
5. A returning guest arrives and you have never met them. What do you already
know, and where did you get it?
(Good answer: reads the guest profile and the notes from prior stays, and
describes adding to that record after every stay.)
6. Describe a request you could not fulfill. What exactly did the guest hear
from you?
(Good answer: gives the actual words, offers a real alternative, and does not
leave the guest to discover the failure later.)
7. Where is the line between what you approve yourself and what goes to a
manager? Give me an example of each.
(Good answer: knows they have some spending and service authority, uses it,
and escalates the rest early rather than after the guest is angry.)
8. The property is sold out and a guest at the desk has a reservation the system
does not show. What is your part in that?
(Good answer: owns the guest while front office works the system, keeps them
comfortable and informed, and does not disappear into the back office.)
9. What did your last property get wrong about the concierge desk?
(Good answer: a specific, unbitter answer about staffing, hours, tools or
authority, which tells you what they will ask you for in month two.)
10. Which shifts can you commit to, including weekends and holidays?
(Good answer: a direct answer about the posted schedule. Ask this the same
way of every candidate and stay on availability, never on the reasons behind
it.)
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Preparation before the shift, not reaction during it
•Specific names for systems, departments and people
•Requests written down somewhere another person can read
•Comfort using their own authority, and early escalation of the rest
•Guest ownership when the failure belongs to another department
SCORING
Shift preparation and arrivals prep [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Cross-department coordination [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Triage under a stacked queue [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Record keeping and handover [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Authority and escalation judgment [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Total: ______ / 25 Notes: ____
Set 2: The Desk Test and Marking Key
Twenty minutes of real work instead of another question: a pre-arrival email, a live call to a restaurant that is full, a rainy-day plan with a mobility constraint, and a handover note to triage. Scored zero to two per task with a suggested bar.
Hotel Concierge Desk Test and Marking Key
HOTEL CONCIERGE DESK TEST: 20 MINUTES, FOUR TASKS
Candidate: __
Property: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
HOW TO RUN IT
Run this after the interview, on the same visit, at a desk with a phone and
whatever the candidate would normally use. Tell them the clock is running and
that you will not answer questions once it starts. Sit where you can hear the
calls. Twenty minutes total, four tasks, scored zero to two each.
This is a paid working interview if it goes beyond a short sample of the work,
so keep it to twenty minutes or pay for the time. Give every candidate the same
four tasks and the same clock.
TASK 1: THE PRE-ARRIVAL EMAIL (6 MINUTES)
Hand them this email and ask for the reply they would send.
"We arrive Friday for our anniversary. Could you book somewhere nice for
dinner Saturday, and arrange a car from the airport? We land at 4:40pm."
Nine questions on the referral economy the desk sits inside, plus the written policy checklist to hand the hire on day one. Vendor commissions, gifts, tip reporting, folio secrecy, and callers asking who is staying with you.
Hotel Concierge Commission, Gratuity, and Privacy Questions
HOTEL CONCIERGE INTERVIEW: COMMISSIONS, GRATUITIES, AND PRIVACY
Candidate: __
Property: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
WHY THIS SET EXISTS
A hotel concierge sits inside a referral economy. Restaurants, tour operators,
drivers, spas and ticket brokers all want the desk to send business their way,
and some of them pay for it. Add guest cash, vendor gifts and the things a desk
overhears about who is staying with whom, and you have the part of this job that
quietly creates the most risk for the property.
Ask these questions of every finalist, and hand the winner a written policy on
day one rather than hoping their instincts match yours.
QUESTIONS
1. Have you ever been offered a commission for sending guests somewhere? Walk me
through what happened.
(Good answer: straightforward about the practice existing, describes
disclosure to the property or declining, and never hides it.)
2. A tour operator offers you twenty percent on every booking. What do you do?
(Good answer: takes it to the manager and asks for the property policy before
accepting anything. A candidate who says the guest will never know is telling
you how they will operate.)
3. If a paid recommendation is also the best one for the guest, does anything
change?
(Good answer: the recommendation still gets disclosed, and the guest still
gets a second option that pays nothing.)
4. A vendor sends you a case of wine at the holidays. What happens to it?
(Good answer: reports it, follows the property gift threshold, and does not
quietly take it home.)
5. How have you handled tips? Who counted them, and how were they reported?
(Good answer: understands tips are reportable income, describes a log or a
pooling arrangement, and does not treat cash as invisible.)
6. A guest asks you to keep something off the folio and off the record. What do
you say?
(Good answer: helpful within policy, honest that billing and records are not
negotiable, and does not promise secrecy it cannot deliver.)
7. Someone calls asking whether a specific guest is staying with you. What is
your answer?
(Good answer: never confirms or denies, takes a message, routes it to the
duty manager. This one is close to a pass or fail.)
8. Your own restaurant is half empty and a guest asks where to eat. What do you
recommend?
(Good answer: sells the property honestly when it fits the guest, and sends
them out when it does not, because the desk trades on being believed.)
9. A colleague has a cash arrangement with a driver. What do you do?
(Good answer: raises it with a manager. A candidate who would say nothing is
telling you what you would never hear about.)
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Disclosure as a reflex, not a calculation
•Awareness that tips and gifts have tax and policy consequences
•A firm no on confirming who is in the building
•Willingness to raise a colleague issue rather than absorb it
•No answer that starts with the guest will never know
POLICY CHECKLIST TO HAND THE HIRE ON DAY ONE
[ ] Whether commissions from vendors are permitted, and to whom they are declared
[ ] The gift value threshold and who logs gifts
[ ] How tips are recorded, pooled and reported
[ ] What the desk may confirm about a guest, to anyone, including police and press
[ ] Which outlets the desk is expected to sell, and how honestly
[ ] The escalation path for anything in this list, with a named person
Signed: __ Date: _
Set 4: Overnight and Lone Desk Questions
For nights and single coverage: the 3am medical call, a lockout with no ID, a non-guest in the lobby, intoxication, authority limits with no manager on property, and the handover. Includes a night shift readiness checklist for the property.
Overnight and Lone Hotel Concierge Questions
OVERNIGHT AND LONE DESK CONCIERGE INTERVIEW
Candidate: __
Property: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set whenever the role covers nights, or any shift where the concierge
is the only person in the lobby and the manager is at home. The daytime desk is
judged on service. The overnight desk is judged on judgment, because there is
nobody to ask and every decision is made once.
Ask these alongside the property core set. Do not hire an overnight concierge on
a daytime interview alone.
QUESTIONS
1. It is three in the morning and a guest calls saying their partner cannot
breathe properly. What do you do, in order?
(Good answer: calls emergency services first, then unlocks the route and
meets responders at the door, then notifies the duty manager. Anyone who
calls the manager before calling 911 is a no for this shift.)
2. A guest cannot find their key and has no ID on them at 2am. Walk me through
it.
(Good answer: verifies against the system without announcing anything in the
lobby, involves security, and never opens a door on a good story.)
3. Someone who is not a guest is sitting in the lobby at 4am. What happens?
(Good answer: approaches with service first, reads the situation, sets a
boundary calmly, and escalates to security rather than escalating the tone.)
4. A guest comes in visibly intoxicated and wants to go up. What do you do?
(Good answer: gets them to their room safely without a confrontation,
documents it, and knows when to involve another staff member as a witness.)
5. What do you do in the dead hours between three and five?
(Good answer: the audit, the arrivals prep, restocking, the handover note.
The wrong answer is a story about how quiet it is.)
6. You have a decision to make and no manager on property. How do you decide
how far to go on your own?
(Good answer: acts inside a known authority limit, documents it, and calls
the duty manager when the decision is irreversible or expensive.)
7. What is in your handover to the morning shift, and how do they get it?
(Good answer: a written note with open items, guest-affecting incidents and
anything the day shift must chase, delivered in person if possible.)
8. How do you stay sharp on a night shift, and how do you sleep between them?
(Good answer: an actual routine. Fatigue on this shift is a safety issue, not
a personality one.)
9. Are you able to work the posted overnight schedule, including weekends and
holidays?
(Good answer: a direct yes or no. Ask this identically of everyone and never
follow it with a question about why.)
NIGHT SHIFT READINESS CHECKLIST FOR THE PROPERTY
[ ] Written authority limit for the overnight concierge, in dollars and decisions
[ ] Duty manager phone number posted, with a second name if the first does not answer
[ ] Emergency services procedure written, including who meets responders at the door
[ ] Incident log at the desk, with a completed example in it
[ ] Lone worker check-in method and a panic or duress option
[ ] Handover template the morning shift actually reads
[ ] Break and meal coverage that does not leave the lobby unattended
SCORING
Emergency sequencing [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Access and verification discipline [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
De-escalation without a manager [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Use of quiet hours [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Handover quality [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Total: ______ / 25 Notes: ____
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Set 5: Chef Concierge and Lead Concierge Questions
For hiring the person who runs the desk rather than works it: coverage arithmetic, a training plan with checkpoints, holding standards, coaching after a complaint, vendor transferability, budget, and monthly reporting.
Chef Concierge and Lead Concierge Interview Questions
CHEF CONCIERGE / LEAD CONCIERGE INTERVIEW
Candidate: __
Property: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when you are hiring the person who runs the desk rather than works
it: a chef concierge, a lead concierge, or a head of guest services at a small
property. The service questions still apply, so run the property core set first,
then add these.
The difference you are buying at this level is coverage, standards and a vendor
network that belongs to the property, not only a warm presence in the lobby.
QUESTIONS
1. Build me a coverage plan for a seven-day desk with two and a half people.
Where does it break?
(Good answer: names the gap out loud, proposes cross-training with front
office or a reduced-hours desk, and does not promise seamless coverage that
does not exist.)
2. How do you train a new concierge who has never worked a desk?
(Good answer: a shadow period, a local knowledge plan, a named list of
vendors to meet, and a checkpoint where the trainee runs the desk observed.)
3. How do you hold a standard when the desk is busy and shortcuts are tempting?
(Good answer: a small number of non-negotiables that are checked, not a
speech about pride.)
4. A guest complaint reaches you after your concierge already handled it. How do
you run that conversation with the guest, then with your team member?
(Good answer: fixes the guest first, coaches privately after, and does not
correct staff in front of a guest.)
5. Which vendor relationships would you rebuild first here, and how do you make
them belong to the property rather than to you?
(Good answer: written contacts, terms and history kept in the property
system, plus introductions so the relationship survives their departure.)
6. What would you spend a monthly recovery and amenity budget on, and what would
you stop spending it on?
(Good answer: talks about specific gestures with a purpose and a limit, and
knows what a comped item costs the property.)
7. How would you report to me on what the desk actually delivered last month?
(Good answer: a handful of counted things such as requests handled, recovery
cases, spend and repeat-guest notes added, not a feeling about the month.)
8. Tell me about a concierge you had to performance manage. What did you do
first, and how did it end?
(Good answer: an early direct conversation, something written, a clear
standard, and an outcome either way.)
9. What is the first thing you would change about our desk in the first ninety
days, based on what you have seen today?
(Good answer: something specific they observed while on the property, which
also tells you whether they looked.)
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Coverage arithmetic that admits the gap
•Training described as a plan with checkpoints, not shadowing forever
•Vendor relationships written down and transferable
•Numbers offered without being asked for
•Willingness to have the uncomfortable conversation early
SCORING
Coverage and scheduling [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Training and standards [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Vendor network and transferability [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Budget and reporting sense [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
People management [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Total: ______ / 25 Notes: ____
Set 6: Scorecard and Desk Test Tracker (XLSX)
Four tabs in one spreadsheet: a weighted seven-area scorecard with evidence columns, the desk test marking sheet, a candidate comparison tab, and a reference call log built around reliability, guest recoveries and cash conduct.
Hotel Concierge Scorecard and Desk Test Tracker
A
B
C
D
E
1
Scoring area
What a 5 sounds like
Weight
Score 1-5
Evidence in their words
2
Shift preparation
Reads the arrivals list first and pre-books what can be pre-booked
x1
3
Cross-department coordination
Names departments and chases the request instead of sending it
x2
4
Triage under a stacked queue
Acknowledges the waiting guest, keeps the hold, writes down what is open
x2
5
Local knowledge and resourcefulness
Live contacts and a second option with a reason attached
x2
6
Commission and privacy judgment
Discloses by reflex and never confirms who is in the building
x2
7
Record keeping and handover
A named system, not a memory, and a handover the next shift can use
x1
8
Schedule reliability
A direct answer on nights, weekends and holidays
x1
9
Weighted total out of 55
The Twenty-Minute Desk Test
A short work sample separates hotel concierge candidates better than any additional question, because the job is performed, not described. Twenty minutes at a real desk with a phone shows you whether someone asks before recommending, whether they work a no, and whether they can sequence a day for a guest they have just met.
Run it on the same visit as the interview so nobody makes a second trip. Keep it to a genuine sample of the work rather than an unpaid shift: if a working interview stretches into real productive hours, treat it as compensable time under the federal rules on hours worked and pay for it.
1
Task 1: The pre-arrival email, 6 minutes
An anniversary couple wants a dinner booked and a car from the airport. A 2 asks the missing questions inside a warm reply, party size, budget, cuisine, dietary needs and flight number, then commits to a next step and a time. A 0 is a polite acknowledgment that books blind.
2
Task 2: The live call, 6 minutes
Give them a restaurant you know is full tonight and ask for a table for four at 7:30. A 2 calls rather than emails, names the property, asks for a manager or a known contact, asks about cancellations and the bar, then gives the guest a real alternative with a reason attached.
3
Task 3: The plan, 4 minutes
A couple in their seventies, raining all day, one of them cannot walk more than ten minutes. A 2 asks what they enjoy before planning anything, keeps it indoors and short on walking, sequences it around travel time and a meal, and names a fallback.
4
Task 4: The handover, 4 minutes
Hand them a note with four open items and ask what they do first and why. A 2 starts with the time-boxed item, warns housekeeping about the afternoon delivery, treats the complaint as a recovery that needs a person, and parks the invoice.
Score each task zero to two on the marking sheet and set the bar at six of eight. Make one result automatic: a candidate who will not make the live call in front of you does not pass, whatever the rest of the sheet says, because that is the exact moment the job asks for.
Commissions, Gratuities, and Guest Privacy
A hotel concierge sits inside a referral economy, and this is the part of the hire that quietly carries the most risk for the property. Restaurants, tour operators, drivers and ticket brokers all want the desk sending business their way, and some of them pay for it. Ask about it directly rather than assuming your instincts and the candidate's match.
Ask
What a strong answer includes
Have you ever been offered a commission?
Straightforward that it happens, plus disclosure or a decline
A vendor offers you twenty percent per booking
Takes it to the manager before accepting anything at all
A vendor sends you wine at the holidays
Reports it and follows the property gift threshold
How were tips counted and reported?
A log or a pooling arrangement, and tips treated as income
A caller asks whether a guest is staying
Never confirms or denies, takes a message, routes to the duty manager
Your own restaurant is half empty tonight
Sells the property when it fits the guest, sends them out when it does not
The answer that should end a process is any version of the guest will never know. That sentence is not a slip, it is a description of how the person operates when nobody is checking, and a concierge desk is by definition a place where nobody is checking most of the time.
Write the Policy Before You Ask the Question
Asking a candidate about commissions and gifts is only fair if the property has a written answer. Decide in advance whether vendor commissions are permitted and to whom they are declared, set a gift value threshold, write down how tips are recorded and reported, and state exactly what the desk may confirm about a guest to anyone, including press and police. Hand that page to the new hire on day one and get it acknowledged with a signature and a date.
Hiring for the Overnight Desk
An overnight concierge is a different hire from a daytime one and needs its own questions. The daytime desk is judged on service quality with a manager two doors away. The night desk is judged on judgment, because every decision is made once, alone, and usually while somebody is upset.
Sequence before sympathy
On a medical call the order is emergency services, then the door, then the duty manager. A candidate who calls the manager first is warm and wrong for this shift.
No door opens on a good story
A lockout at 2am with no ID is a verification task, not a service moment. Listen for someone who checks the system quietly and brings security in without a scene.
A written authority limit
Give the overnight desk a dollar figure and a list of decisions they own. Judgment questions in the interview only mean something if the real job has a defined edge.
The handover is the deliverable
Ask what their night note contained. If the morning shift learns about an incident from the guest instead of the note, the night desk did not finish the shift.
The single most useful overnight question is the 3am medical scenario, asked as a sequence rather than a feeling: what do you do, in order. The right answer calls emergency services first, then clears the route and meets responders at the door, then notifies the duty manager. A warm candidate who calls the manager first is not ready for that shift.
Interview questions about judgment only mean something if the real job has defined edges, so write the authority limit down before the first night shift: a dollar figure the desk can spend on a recovery, a list of decisions they own outright, and a duty manager number with a second name behind it. Hospitality turnover is punishing, and the causes look a lot like those in restaurant turnover: unclear expectations and no support at the moment they were needed.
Keeping the Interview Structured and Legal
Ask the same job-related questions of every candidate, in the same order, and score them on the same sheet. That single habit is what makes an interview both fairer and more predictive, and it is also the simplest way to stay on the right side of employment law, because the record shows everyone was assessed on the same criteria.
Structure Is Both the Fairer and the Better Method
Research on hiring consistently finds that a structured interview, where every candidate answers the same questions against a fixed rubric, predicts job performance far better than a free conversation. Asking the same job-related questions of everyone is also the standard behind the EEOC rules against decisions based on protected characteristics: age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, disability and genetic information.
Hospitality interviews drift into risky ground in a few predictable places, mostly around scheduling and language. The table below gives the substitute question for each, and the full list of prohibited areas is covered in our guide to illegal interview questions.
Do not ask
Ask instead
Do you have kids at home who need weekend care?
These are the posted shifts, including weekends. Can you work them?
Where is your accent from?
Which languages can you use with guests, and at what level?
Does your religion allow holiday shifts?
The role covers holidays on a rota. Are you available for that?
Are you a citizen?
Are you legally authorized to work in the United States?
How old are you? You look young for this desk.
Tell me about the busiest desk you have worked and what you handled.
Any health conditions that affect night shifts?
This role is overnight, standing, and alone in the lobby. Can you perform it?
Keep the completed sheets rather than throwing them out after the offer. If a hiring decision is ever questioned, the record of identical questions and written scores is the thing you want to have, and it also feeds a cleaner interview feedback conversation with everyone you did not hire. This is general information, not legal advice.
Scoring the Interview and the Reference Call
Fill in the scorecard before the next candidate walks in, while the answers are still exact. Seven areas, one to five each, with the coordination, triage, local knowledge and privacy areas double weighted, gives a weighted total out of fifty-five, which is enough spread to separate a strong finalist from a merely pleasant one.
Scoring area
What a 5 sounds like
Shift preparation
Reads the arrivals list first and pre-books what can be pre-booked
Cross-department coordination
Names departments and chases the request instead of sending it
Triage under a stacked queue
Acknowledges the waiting guest, keeps the hold, writes down what is open
Local knowledge and resourcefulness
Live contacts and a second option with a reason attached
Commission and privacy judgment
Discloses by reflex and never confirms who is in the building
Record keeping and handover
A named system, not a memory, and a note the next shift can use
Schedule reliability
A direct answer on nights, weekends and holidays
If more than one person sits in, each should score independently before anyone speaks, so a single strong impression does not anchor the room. A shared interview evaluation form keeps that consistent when the panel changes between candidates.
Then make the reference calls count. Generic questions produce generic answers, so ask the three things that actually predict a desk hire: whether they showed up for the shifts they were posted for, how they handled a guest complaint that was not their fault, and whether there was ever an issue involving cash, tips or vendors. Our guide to the reference check covers the call structure, and a background check is a separate decision with its own rules.
What to Pay a Hotel Concierge
Anchor the rate to federal wage data, then adjust for property tier, overnight coverage and your metro. The quartile spread matters more than the median here, because a luxury desk and a limited-service desk sit at different ends of the same occupation.
Median $18.73 an Hour, Top Quartile Above $22.76
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), concierges had a median wage of $18.73 an hour, about $38,950 a year. The 25th percentile sat at $17.15 an hour and the 75th at $22.76 an hour, roughly $47,350 a year, with the top 10 percent above $27.68 (BLS OEWS). Federal projections put about 6,800 concierge openings a year through 2034.
Read those quartiles as property tiers. If you are hiring a desk expected to hold real vendor relationships and cover nights, budget at the 75th percentile rather than the median, and expect to pay above it in a high-cost metro. A chef concierge running a team sits above the range entirely, closer to a supervisory rate.
The role is normally non-exempt and hourly, so overtime is owed above forty hours in a workweek. If the concierge customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips, federal rules on tipped employees permit a direct cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour with a maximum tip credit of $5.12, as long as wages plus tips reach the federal minimum. Several states ban the tip credit outright, so confirm your state rule and see our guide to the tipped minimum wage before you set the rate.
Running This Hire Without an HR Department
A hotel group screens concierge candidates through a recruiter, a department head and a property visit. A single-property owner or general manager does the whole thing personally, usually because someone quit and the desk is being covered by whoever is free that afternoon. That pressure is where the avoidable mistakes cluster.
You are hiring for a desk you have never worked yourself
Most owners and general managers at a small property have covered front office at some point, but very few have run a concierge desk through a Friday night. That gap is why this kit puts a note under every question describing what a good answer sounds like. You are not grading hospitality craft from memory; you are checking whether the answer is specific, sequenced and honest. Ask the question, listen against the note, and score it on the sheet before the next candidate walks in. The candidate who charmed you will still be charming tomorrow, but the scores will be there to argue with.
One interview, one shot, and the desk is already uncovered
A hotel group runs a concierge candidate through a recruiter, a department head and a property visit. A single-property owner does it in one visit, usually because someone quit and the desk is being covered by whoever is free. That pressure is exactly when people hire on warmth alone. The twenty-minute desk test exists for that situation: it fits inside the same visit, it costs you almost nothing, and it tells you more than a second interview would. Run the interview, run the test, score both, and only then decide whether you need to see anyone else.
The paperwork side of the hire lands on the same person
At a small property the person who ran the interview is also the person chasing the signed offer, the confidentiality agreement, the work authorization and the policy acknowledgments, usually between shifts. That is where good hires go quiet for two weeks and then start without a key or a schedule. FirstHR fits this part: e-signature for the offer and the confidentiality agreement, document management so the signed paperwork sits on the employee profile, and task workflows for access, uniform, policy sign-off and the first week of shadowing. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a property management system and not a payroll provider, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
It also helps to name the level you are actually hiring, because at a small property the same person can be described three different ways in one week. The comparison below draws the lines that change the interview.
Responsibility
Guest Services Attendant
Concierge
Chef Concierge
Directions, messages and simple requests
Books restaurants, tickets and transport personally
Maintains vendor relationships across the city
Owns a recovery budget and spending authority
Builds the desk schedule and trains new concierges
If the job is really the first column, interview it as a guest services role and pay it as one. The guest service representative description draws that boundary clearly. For a desk that spans several settings rather than a hotel alone, the multi-setting concierge interview questions cover residential, corporate and healthcare desks too. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
From Offer to First Desk Shift
Once you pick someone, a concierge hire carries a few steps most hourly roles do not: a confidentiality agreement because of what the desk hears, a written commission and gratuity policy, access items to log, and a shift pattern in writing that names nights, weekends and holidays before week three turns into an argument.
Offer and confidentiality in writing
The rate, the shift pattern including nights and holidays, the tip and gratuity policy, and a confidentiality agreement, all signed before the first shift rather than after it.
The commission and gift policy
Hand over the written policy on vendor commissions, gift thresholds and what the desk may confirm about a guest, and get it acknowledged with a date.
Access, systems, and the vendor list
Property system login, guest profile permissions, keys and fobs logged, plus introductions to the vendors the desk depends on in week one.
Records in one place
Signed offer, I-9, W-4, policy acknowledgments and the completed scorecards stored together, so the hiring record is findable if anyone ever asks.
Put the offer letter and the confidentiality agreement in the same place rather than three, and confirm work authorization before the first shift rather than during it.
The I-9 documentation guide lists exactly what counts as acceptable proof, and the same folder should hold the completed scorecards from the interview and the desk test.
FirstHR connects the offer, e-signature, policy acknowledgments and an onboarding checklist in one system, and keeps the signed new hire paperwork on the employee profile, so one manager can bring a concierge on between shifts without chasing paper. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a property management system and not a payroll provider, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
A concierge interview rewards charm, so build the hire around the arrivals list, the handover and the phone rather than the conversation.
Ask the property core set of every candidate, then add the commission and privacy set and, for nights, the overnight set.
Run a twenty-minute desk test with four scored tasks; a candidate who will not make the live call is an automatic no.
Treat commissions, gifts and guest privacy as screening criteria, and write the property policy down before you ask about it.
Ask availability for the posted shifts identically of everyone, and never follow it with a question about the reason.
Anchor pay to BLS OEWS, May 2025: a $18.73 median with the 75th percentile at $22.76 an hour for a full-service desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I ask a hotel concierge candidate?
Ask about the shift on your property before you ask about the city. The strongest questions are what they check before the first arrival reaches the desk, a request that needed three departments to move, what happens in the next sixty seconds when they are on hold and a guest is waiting, how they record a request so the next shift can finish it, and where the line sits between what they approve and what a manager approves. Then add the money questions about commissions, gifts and tips, because a hotel concierge sits inside a referral economy that quietly creates risk for the property. Finish with a direct availability question asked identically of every candidate. Each question in the downloadable sets carries a note describing what a good answer sounds like, so a manager who has never worked a desk can still score it consistently.
How do I test a concierge candidate for local knowledge?
Do not quiz them, give them work. A twenty-minute desk test tells you more than any list of trivia questions, because local knowledge without the ability to act on it is useless at a desk. Use four tasks: reply to a pre-arrival email asking for an anniversary dinner and an airport car, make a live call to a restaurant you know is full tonight, plan a rainy day for a guest who cannot walk far, and triage a handover note. Score each zero to two and set the bar at six of eight, with an automatic fail if they will not pick up the phone in front of you. The test surfaces the things an interview hides: whether they ask questions before recommending, whether they work a no, and whether they sequence a day or just list attractions. Give every candidate the same four tasks and the same clock.
What is a chef concierge, and does a small hotel need one?
A chef concierge is the lead of a concierge team, responsible for coverage, standards, training and the vendor network rather than only working the desk. A small property with one or two concierges usually does not need the title, but it does need someone accountable for the same things, which is often the general manager. Hire at that level when the desk runs seven days, when more than one concierge needs training and holding to a standard, or when vendor relationships keep leaving with the person who built them. The lead questions in this kit test coverage arithmetic for a seven-day desk with limited staff, a training plan with checkpoints, how they make vendor contacts belong to the property, what they would spend a recovery budget on, and how they would report on what the desk delivered last month.
Can I ask a hotel concierge candidate about nights, weekends, and holidays?
Yes. Availability for the posted schedule is a job-related question and you can ask it of every candidate. What you cannot do is follow it with questions about why someone is unavailable, because that is where childcare, religious observance, pregnancy, age and disability enter the conversation, all of which the EEOC treats as protected characteristics. Keep the question factual: these are the shifts, can you work them. If a candidate raises a conflict themselves, move to whether an accommodation is possible rather than probing the reason. Ask it in the same words and at the same point in every interview, write down the answer, and keep the notes with the scorecard. This is general information, not legal advice.
Should a hotel concierge be paid hourly, and can I take a tip credit?
A hotel concierge is normally a non-exempt hourly role, so overtime is owed for hours over forty in a workweek. Whether you can take a tip credit depends on whether the concierge customarily and regularly receives more than thirty dollars a month in tips and on your state law. Federal rules allow a direct cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour with a maximum tip credit of $5.12, provided cash wages plus tips reach at least the federal minimum wage. Several states prohibit the tip credit entirely and require the full state minimum before tips, so confirm your own state rule before setting the rate. Whatever you choose, put the rate, the shift pattern and the gratuity policy in the written offer, because tip arrangements agreed verbally are the most common source of a first-month dispute.
What are the red flags in a hotel concierge interview?
Five patterns are worth ending a process over. First, an answer to the commission question that begins with the guest will never know, because that describes how they will operate. Second, a willingness to confirm whether a named guest is staying with you, which is close to a pass or fail on its own. Third, calling the duty manager before emergency services in the 3am medical scenario, which rules them out for any overnight shift. Fourth, refusing to make the live call during the desk test, since a candidate who will not pick up the phone in front of you will not do it on a Friday night either. Fifth, blaming every previous property with no account of their own part. Warmth in the room is not evidence against any of these, which is why the scorecard matters.
How many interview rounds does a hotel concierge hire need?
Two touchpoints are usually enough: a short phone screen and one property visit that contains both the interview and the desk test. The phone screen covers availability for the posted shifts, pay expectations, work authorization and whether they have worked a desk before, and takes about fifteen minutes. The property visit runs the core question set, adds the money questions and the overnight set if the role covers nights, then finishes with the twenty-minute desk test. Score everything on the same sheet before the next candidate arrives. Adding a third round rarely improves the decision and often loses the candidate, because strong hospitality candidates move quickly. Spend the time you save on reference calls that ask about reliability on posted shifts and about cash and vendor conduct.
