Cultural attraction guest services associate job description
When visitors need help at a zoo, science center, history museum or garden, the guest services associate is who they look for. They answer questions at the information desk and out on the grounds, rent strollers and wheelchairs, run lost and found, and stay with a lost child until the right adult is found.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, museums, zoos and gardens · BLS, May 2025
Guest Services Associates are the people guests turn to for help. You answer questions at the information desk and around the site, rent strollers and wheelchairs, run lost and found, and follow our lost child procedure when a family gets separated. You call for first aid or security when needed.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Greet guests, give directions, and share the day's schedule of [keeper talks, feedings, or gallery tours].
Rent strollers, wheelchairs, and [scooters], and check them back in for damage.
Follow the lost child procedure: stay with the child, radio a description, and release the child only to a verified adult.
Log lost and found items and return them to their owners.
Radio first aid or security and stay with the guest until help arrives.
Help with accessibility requests such as sensory kits, accessible routes, and service animal questions under your policy.
Handle guest questions and complaints, and pass what you can't fix to a supervisor.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Set up the information desk, radios, maps, and rental equipment before opening.
Rove the grounds or galleries during busy hours to help guests and spot problems.
Help manage lines and crowds at popular exhibits and events.
Log incidents, lost items, and guest comments in the shift report.
Close the desk and report any rental equipment that is missing or broken.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Guest survey scores for staff helpfulness: [your target].
Shift checklists completed: [your target].
Incident reports filed the same day: [your target].
Rental equipment returned and accounted for: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[High school diploma or equivalent, or currently in high school].
Friendly, clear communication with guests of all ages.
Follows safety procedures and learns radio codes.
Available weekends, holidays, and [summer or peak season].
6. Preferred Experience
Customer service experience in retail, food service, or hospitality.
First Aid and CPR certification.
Speaks Spanish, ASL, or another language your guests use.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand and walk for most of a shift, indoors and outdoors.
Push wheelchairs and strollers and lift items up to [25] pounds.
Work outside in heat, cold, and rain while roving.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Part-time, full-time, and seasonal shifts. Weekends and holidays are required.
Mostly at the entrance or out on the grounds [depending on your site].
Uniform provided; follow your appearance and radio rules.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new guest services associate gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What makes guest services different at a cultural attraction
Guest services at a store or hotel answers questions and fixes problems. Here the grounds are spread out, much of the crowd is families with small children, and the day runs on a schedule of talks and feedings.
A lost child is the call that matters most
On a summer Saturday, families get separated again and again. The associate stays with the child at a set meeting point, radios a description, and keeps the child calm. Under your written procedure, the child is released only to an adult whose identity has been checked, however sure the adult seems and however long the line behind them.
Service dog questions follow a script
When it isn't obvious, staff may ask just two things: is the dog a service animal the guest needs for a disability, and what has it been trained to do. They can't ask for papers, ask about the disability or ask the dog to show its task. The ADA doesn't count emotional support animals as service animals. Source: ADA.gov: Frequently asked questions about service animals and the ADA.
Every rental has to come back
Strollers, wheelchairs and scooters leave the desk all day and travel across acres of paths. The associate logs each one out with a name and phone number, looks it over when it returns, and tracks down the ones still out near closing. A stroller with a loose wheel or a wheelchair with a weak brake comes out of the line before the next family takes it.
Guests ask about the day's schedule
The questions are about time and place: when the sea lion feeding starts, where the keeper talk meets, which gallery tour suits a four-year-old. Associates read the day's schedule before opening and know where each event gathers, so they can send a family the right way without a radio call.
Quiet spaces and sensory kits
Some families ask for a sensory kit, such as noise-reducing headphones, or a quiet place for a child who is overwhelmed. Associates should know which exhibits are loud or dark, which routes skip the stairs, and where the quiet rooms are, so they can answer before the family has to explain why.
How much cultural attraction guest services associates make
The closest BLS group for cultural attraction guest services associates is ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers. Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $16.75 an hour ($34,850 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $32,910 median for ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers in all industries. About 2,410 of the 121,770 ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers in that survey work for museums, zoos and gardens.
Hourly. Most of the crew is part-time or seasonal, with a few year-round associates who open, close and train new hires.
Museums, zoos and gardens
$34,850$34,850 median Middle half $30,730–$38,000 10th–90th $27,350–$43,600
All industries
$32,910$32,910 median Middle half $28,310–$36,940 10th–90th $23,560–$42,470
$10k$20k$30k$40k$50k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Museums, zoos and gardens
$27,350
$30,730
$34,850
$38,000
$43,600
All industries
$23,560
$28,310
$32,910
$36,940
$42,470
BLS groups museums, zoos, botanical gardens and historic sites together. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Warm with guests of every age, including a crying child and a worried parent
Follows a written procedure step by step when it counts
Gives clear directions on a big site, using landmarks guests can see
Keeps radio messages short and calm
Notices trouble while roving: a guest who looks unwell, a blocked path, a child alone
Teach these on the job
Your radio codes and lost child procedure
The site map, accessible routes and the day's events
Rental check-out and damage checks
The two service dog questions and the areas closed to dogs
First Aid and CPR, if you offer the class
Associates work with two-way radios, a site map, a rental log and a shift report, and sometimes a tablet for looking up tickets or memberships. The posting should say whether the desk takes payment for rentals, since that adds a cash drawer to the job.
Cultural attraction guest services associate interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Your surveys and shift logs supply the numbers for each blank. Go over them with each associate at season's end, when you decide who to invite back.
Guest survey scores for staff helpfulness
Use the staff helpfulness question in your post-visit survey. Read the comments for names, since praise by name is the clearest sign of who is doing the job well.
Shift checklists completed
Count opening and closing checklists signed and turned in, out of shifts worked. Spot-check one a week at the desk: radios charged, maps stocked, rentals counted.
Incident reports filed the same day
Compare the reports in the log with the incidents radioed in during the shift. A lost child, a fall or a first aid call should be written up before the associate leaves.
Rental equipment returned and accounted for
Match the rental log to the stroller and wheelchair count at close. Track items missing overnight and items pulled for repair.
Career path
Retail, food service or camp counselor jobBuilds patience with the public and with kids.
Guest services associateHelps guests at the desk and on the grounds.
Guest services leadOpens the desk, runs radio calls and trains new hires.
Guest services managerLeads the gate, the desk and the store, and writes the procedures.
What is the difference between guest services and admissions?
Admissions handles the gate: tickets, member checks and a cash drawer. Guest services helps people once they are inside: directions, rentals, lost and found, lost children and first aid calls. Smaller sites rotate the same people between the window and the desk. That works once each associate has closed out a drawer with a lead watching, so build it into training before their first busy weekend.
How much does a cultural attraction guest services associate make?
Ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers who work for museums, zoos, gardens, and historic sites earned a median of $16.75 an hour ($34,850 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $30,730 and $38,000 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Can guest services associates help a guest who is hurt or sick?
Their first job is to get help fast and stay with the guest: radio first aid or security with the exact spot, keep the area clear, and walk responders in. Only staff your policy trains and assigns should give first aid. The template lists First Aid and CPR as a plus, and paying for the class is an easy way to get more of the team certified.
How do you train a new associate on the lost child procedure?
Walk it, don't just read it. Show the meeting point, the exits other staff will cover, and the exact radio words. Then run a drill with a coworker playing the parent, including one who can't show ID. Repeat it at the start of each season, when much of the team is new.
Do guest services associates work outdoors?
At zoos, gardens and historic sites, usually yes, for at least part of the shift. Roving posts cover paths, gates and parking lots in summer heat, cold mornings and rain. Rotate people between the desk and outdoor posts, and plan water and shade breaks for hot days. Reasonable accommodation applies here as it does to any job.
Which languages help most at the guest services desk?
The ones your guests speak. Ask your ticket sellers which languages they hear most, and look at the zip codes in your ticket data. ASL helps Deaf guests at any site. List a second language as a plus unless a post truly can't run without it, and keep a phone interpreter service's number at the desk for everything else.
