A hotel valet attendant parks and returns guests' cars at the entrance. They check each car for existing damage, hand the guest a claim ticket, park in the hotel's lot or garage, lock the key away, and have the car back at the door fast when the guest calls down.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $25,530, middle half $28,880 to $38,880, 90th percentile $45,880. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
Front Office Manager
Department
Front Office
Schedule
Shifts built around arrivals and events · Mornings, evenings, weekends and holidays, plus overnights where the stand never closes; outdoors at the curb
Also called
Valet parker · Valet parking attendant · Valet runner · Parking attendant
Hotel valet attendant job description template
This is our Role Blueprint, word for word. Replace the highlighted fields and adjust the example targets and pay to fit your company.
Valet Attendants park and return guests' cars at the hotel entrance. You'll greet arrivals, walk around each car to note existing damage, issue claim tickets, park in assigned areas, keep keys locked up, and bring cars back quickly at checkout. Every car is a guest's property, so you drive carefully and follow the key procedure every time.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Greet arriving guests, open doors and help unload luggage with the bell staff.
Walk around each car before you park it, and record existing scratches and dents on the ticket or in [your valet app].
Release cars only against the matching claim ticket, or the ID check your policy requires when a ticket is lost.
Park cars in assigned areas at safe speeds, lock them and note the space on the ticket.
Keep keys in the locked key box and log every key in and out.
Post valet charges to the guest's room or collect payment as your policy sets.
Report any damage, accident or missing key to the Front Office Manager right away and write an incident report.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check the arrivals list for groups, VIPs and expected cars.
Keep the entrance lane clear so arrivals, taxis and shuttles can move.
Pull cars up ahead of time for guests who call down before checkout.
Walk the lot or garage to check that cars are locked and keys match the log.
Hand off open tickets and the key log at shift change.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Time to return a car after the guest calls: [your target].
Damage claims: [your target].
Key log errors: [your target].
Guest comments on valet service: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Valid driver's license and a driving record that meets your insurer's standard.
Meet [the minimum age your insurer sets for valet drivers].
Drives cars and SUVs of all sizes safely, [including manual transmissions, if you require it].
Follows ticket and key procedures every time, even when the line of cars is long.
6. Preferred Experience
Valet, bell or parking experience.
Customer service experience in a hotel, restaurant or store.
Knows local roads well enough to give guests directions.
7. Physical Requirements
Walk and jog between the entrance and the lot or garage many times a shift.
Stand outdoors at the entrance in heat, cold and rain.
Lift luggage up to [50] pounds when helping arrivals.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Morning, evening and overnight shifts [if your valet runs around the clock], including weekends and holidays.
Outdoor work at the entrance, plus driving in parking garages and lots.
Busiest at check-in, at checkout and before large events.
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 valet attendant 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
How hotel valet differs from restaurant and event valet
A restaurant or event valet holds a car for a few hours. A hotel valet may keep it all week, bring it up before sunrise and park it again that night, while the bell staff unload bags at the same curb.
Cars stay for days, not hours
An overnight guest's car sits in your garage for the whole stay and may come and go several times a day. The ticket, the key and the space number have to match on every trip. Guests leaving for an early flight expect the car waiting at the door, so the team pulls cars for known departures before the morning rush.
Who can drive guests' cars
Federal child labor law keeps anyone under 17 from driving on public roads as part of a job. At 17, driving is allowed only in daylight, with a clean record and a list of other limits, and only now and then, at most one-third of the workday. A valet who runs cars to an off-site lot spends much of each shift on public streets, so under federal rules that job goes to adults. Your state and your insurer may set a higher age. Source: U.S. Department of Labor: Fact Sheet #34, youth driving under the FLSA.
The walk-around is your proof
Before parking, the valet circles the car and marks scratches, dents and chipped glass on the ticket or in the valet app, with time-stamped photos if your system takes them. When a guest says a scratch is new at checkout, that record settles it. Skipping it while cars stack up at the curb is how a small claim lands on the hotel.
Some cities license the valet stand
In Chicago, the business that employs the valet attendants needs a city valet operator license. It must carry liability, property damage and garage keeper's insurance and have a loading zone at the curb. Valets put a placard on each dashboard and give every guest a numbered receipt that shows the plate. They park only at the lots named on the license and wear the operator's insignia. Look up your own city's rules. Source: City of Chicago BACP: Valet operator license.
A loose key fob is a loose car
Push-button cars start with the fob in a pocket, so a fob left on an open hook is as good as a car left running. Keys live in the locked box, every key in and out goes in the log, and the overnight shift walks the garage to match cars to keys. A missing key goes to the front office manager the minute anyone notices.
How much hotel valet attendants make
The closest BLS group for hotel valet attendants is parking attendants. Parking attendants who work for hotels, resorts, and motels earned a median of $16.66 an hour ($34,640 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $35,150 median for parking attendants in all industries. About 6,120 of the 137,880 parking attendants in that survey work for hotels and resorts.
Hourly plus tips from guests. The parking fee posted to the room is hotel revenue, not a tip, so keep it out of the tip count, and put in writing how drivers split the cash tips.
Hotels and resorts
$34,640$34,640 median Middle half $28,880–$38,880 10th–90th $25,530–$45,880
All industries
$35,150$35,150 median Middle half $29,960–$37,670 10th–90th $27,040–$44,550
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Hotels and resorts
$25,530
$28,880
$34,640
$38,880
$45,880
All industries
$27,040
$29,960
$35,150
$37,670
$44,550
BLS groups hotels, resorts and motels as traveler accommodation. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Drives cars, SUVs and pickups smoothly in tight garages and on ramps
Follows the ticket and key steps every time, even with cars backed up at the curb
Looks over each car and writes down damage before driving it away
Polite and quick with a guest who is late for a flight
A driving record that meets your insurer's standard
Teach these on the job
Your garage layout, overflow lots and assigned zones
The valet app or ticket system and the key log
Posting valet charges to rooms and handling a lost ticket
Electric cars, push-button starts and where the chargers are
Helping the bell team unload luggage at arrival
Valet stands run on numbered claim tickets or a valet app that can text the guest and store damage photos, plus a locked key box and a radio. O*NET lists valet systems such as SMS Valet and CorePark Valet among the software for this job. The front desk's arrivals report tells the stand how many cars and groups to expect.
Hotel valet attendant 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.
The KPIs in the template end in blanks. Time car returns and count damage claims over a few busy and slow weeks, then set targets by shift, since a checkout morning or a gala night runs nothing like a quiet afternoon.
Time to return a car after the guest calls
Log when each request comes in, by phone, text or ticket, and when the car reaches the door. Valet apps record both times. Review checkout mornings on their own.
Damage claims
Count every damage claim a guest files, and check whether the walk-around record showed that damage before parking. Claims the record answers show the process works; the rest need a closer look.
Key log errors
Count keys missing from the box, logged to the wrong ticket or out without an entry, as found on the garage walk or at shift change.
Guest comments on valet service
Pull survey and review comments that mention valet, parking or the car. Sort them into speed, care of the car and courtesy, and share praise with the driver it names.
Career path
Valet attendantParks cars and learns the entrance, the garage and the regular guests.
Valet captainRuns the stand on a shift: places runners, checks keys and handles claims.
Front desk agentMoves inside to check-ins, room keys and guest billing.
Usually, yes. If the hotel pays a lower cash wage and credits tips to make up the rest, the pool can hold only workers in jobs that customarily and regularly get tips, and DOL names bellhops as one example. Valets and door staff who are tipped by guests meet the same test. No manager or supervisor may take a share of the pool; a manager who parks a car alone may keep the tip that guest hands over, and nothing from the pool. State tip credit rules differ, too.
How much does a hotel valet attendant make?
Parking attendants who work for hotels, resorts, and motels earned a median of $16.66 an hour ($34,640 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $28,880 and $38,880 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Is it better to staff valet in-house or hire a parking company?
Running it yourself keeps the greeting, the uniform and the guest's experience under your control, and valets can help the bell team at the rush. A parking company brings trained drivers, its own insurance and cover for sick calls. But the people at your front door aren't your employees. Either way, read the contract and your policy for who pays when a car is damaged.
Do you need to check a valet's driving record?
Ask your insurer what it requires; the template asks for a record that meets that standard. When a screening company supplies the record, federal FCRA rules apply. The applicant gets a stand-alone written notice first and signs a written permission. Before you reject a driver over what the record shows, mail or hand over a copy with the FCRA summary of rights. Your state or city may also restrict what you can consider.
What should a valet do after damaging a guest's car?
Leave the car where it is unless it blocks a lane, and call the front office manager right away. Take photos, write the incident report with the time and ticket number, and don't promise the guest anything about repairs. The manager talks to the guest and the insurer. Tell every new valet on day one that reporting damage is expected and hiding it ends the job.
