Underpaid for amount of work. I made more money doing menial tasks in a warehouse. Good way to network (guests)
Pros
Once you've added Front Desk experience to your resume, it's incredibly easy to find work at hotels. Great networking opportunity through guests coming to your hotel (I've been offered jobs -unfortunately too far away at this time- & asked to apply at job fairs being held in our meeting spaces as of late). Good place to learn about an office environment and how to multitask if you're up to it.
Cons
Underpaid.. I have made more doing menial tasks in a warehouse. Under-appreciated - high degree of patience and energy needed for not a lot of pay and never a raise that makes a dent in your bills. Probably the most demanding job in the hotel as you are the first person people think of to find when there is a problem - coworkers included. No respect, seen as inferior by most, lazy bosses, few breaks despite state laws. If you intend to return to college while working at a job like this, make sure your boss isn't a capitalistic jerk who thinks you're a service-working piece of trash to make his bonus fat and his labor costs low... he or she won't want you to embark upon self-improvement. He or she will refuse to schedule around your classes or just cut your hours so that you starve while trying to expand your mind and you will instead pass out in your desk from malnutrition yet you will still be responsible for paying back student loans you can't afford because of your poor choice not to stick with McDonald's or UPS. After you flunk out of college, you will be stuck with the humiliating task of working your way back into said boss' "good graces" to get your hours back from the flaky new girl who laughs at male boss' not-funny jokes but can't seem to enter credit card information properly. =-)
