Top 12 Restaurant Host Skills to Put on Your Resume
Crafting a compelling resume is crucial for aspiring restaurant hosts aiming to stand out in the hospitality industry. Highlighting a well-rounded set of skills that blend gracious guest service, swift organization, and a warm, confident presence is key to catching the eye of hiring managers and building momentum in a lively restaurant career.
Restaurant Host Skills
- OpenTable
- ResyOS
- Customer Service
- Multitasking
- POS Systems
- Reservation Management
- Tableau
- Conflict Resolution
- Time Management
- Bilingual Communication
- Guest Experience
- Team Coordination
1. OpenTable
OpenTable is a reservation and guest management platform that lets restaurants accept bookings, track preferences, manage waitlists, and seat guests efficiently.
Why It's Important
For a host, OpenTable centralizes reservations and floor management, sharpens pacing, and supports personalization, which means smoother service, fewer bottlenecks, and happier guests.
How to Improve OpenTable Skills
Quick wins that move the needle:
Tidy the book: Keep reservations accurate, confirm party sizes, and update status in real time to prevent double-seats and gaps.
Customize floor plans: Reflect the day’s reality—blocked sections, large-party setups, ADA-accessible tables—so the map mirrors the room.
Enrich guest profiles: Capture allergies, occasions, and seating preferences. Use tags to surface details fast at the stand.
Automate waitlist texts: Enable messaging and clear ETAs. Fewer hoverers at the host stand, more relaxed pacing.
Use pacing controls: Stagger arrivals during peak windows to protect the kitchen and servers from getting crushed.
Review post-shift: Scan turn times, no-show patterns, and seating notes to refine tomorrow’s approach.
Work the tool, and it pays back with smoother flow and more satisfied diners.
How to Display OpenTable Skills on Your Resume
2. ResyOS
ResyOS is a reservation and table management system used to schedule, seat, waitlist, and communicate with guests while tracking preferences and dining history.
Why It's Important
It streamlines reservations, boosts table turns without rushing guests, and powers proactive communication—key pieces for a calm door and a consistent guest experience.
How to Improve ResyOS Skills
Role-based training: Learn the exact host workflows—seating, pacing, waitlist triage, SMS updates—until they’re muscle memory.
Dial in floor plans: Build accurate layouts for brunch, dinner, events, patio weather shifts, and private dining.
Leverage analytics: Check peak times, turn durations, and no-show rates to adjust pacing and staffing.
Automate guest comms: Confirmations, reminders, and “your table is ready” texts cut no-shows and prevent frustration.
Keep the system current: Sync hours, seating rules, max party sizes, and special menus ahead of service.
Small adjustments compound into quieter lines and more consistent covers.
How to Display ResyOS Skills on Your Resume
3. Customer Service
For a host, customer service means greeting guests with warmth, giving clear expectations, seating smoothly, handling hiccups gracefully, and closing the experience on a high note.
Why It's Important
It shapes first impressions and final memories. Great service sparks repeat visits, five-star reviews, and steady word of mouth.
How to Improve Customer Service Skills
Listen first: Let guests share needs fully—then respond clearly and confidently.
Set honest timelines: Quote realistic waits and update frequently. Surprises break trust.
Personalize: Remember names, occasions, and returning guests’ preferences. Small touches land big.
Own issues fast: Apologize, offer options, escalate when needed. Resolve, then follow up.
Stay composed: Calm tone, steady body language, unruffled pace—especially when the lobby swells.
Make people feel seen and taken care of; the rest follows.
How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume
4. Multitasking
Multitasking at the host stand means juggling arrivals, reservations, waitlists, walk-ins, calls, and team updates—without dropping the smile.
Why It's Important
It keeps the line moving, tables turning, and communication crisp. When you handle five things at once, guests feel just one thing: taken care of.
How to Improve Multitasking Skills
Prep before doors open: Scan the book, flag special requests, mark overbooked windows, and set a seating plan A/B.
Prioritize in bursts: Triage by impact—seat first, update waitlist second, phone third—then cycle again.
Use your tools: Let the system handle pacing, alerts, and status updates so your brain can focus on guests.
Signal clearly: Short, direct updates to servers and expo prevent crossed wires.
Pressure practice: Rehearse peak-hour scenarios with the team. Build reflexes before the rush hits.
Fast hands, clear head, no chaos.
How to Display Multitasking Skills on Your Resume
5. POS Systems
A restaurant POS tracks checks, payments, and sales, and often connects to reservations, the floor map, and guest profiles—data a host can reference to coordinate seating and status.
Why It's Important
Hosts use POS-linked floor views to see table status in real time, quote accurate wait times, seat smarter, and reduce awkward follow-ups.
How to Improve POS Systems Skills
Master table status: Learn how “fired,” “entrees out,” and “check down” translate to realistic wait quotes.
Favor speed: Keep frequently used actions on quick buttons or shortcuts to minimize taps.
Sync with reservations: Ensure the POS and reservation system map match—sections, capacities, and blocked tables.
Review reports: Scan turn times and peak-hour bottlenecks to refine pacing rules.
Mind security: Follow access rules, log out at the stand, and respect payment privacy. PCI compliance isn’t optional.
Clean data and quick inputs make the door feel effortless.
How to Display POS Systems Skills on Your Resume
6. Reservation Management
Reservation management means organizing bookings, pacing arrivals, and matching parties to tables to maximize capacity without sacrificing hospitality.
Why It's Important
Done well, it cuts wait times, reduces empty seats, and steadies the kitchen—more covers, less chaos.
How to Improve Reservation Management Skills
Use pacing windows: Cap arrivals per 15-minute slot to protect both service and the line.
Confirm and remind: Send reminders, request confirmations, and consider deposits for peak windows to lower no-shows.
Seat strategically: Mix two-tops and four-tops, protect deuce inventory, and plan ahead for large parties.
Quote honestly: Base ETAs on live table status and turn data, not guesswork.
Close the loop: Tag problems (late parties, walk-in surges) and adjust rules for the next shift.
Precision at the book equals calm in the lobby.
How to Display Reservation Management Skills on Your Resume
7. Tableau
Tableau is a visual analytics tool that turns raw data into dashboards—useful for tracking peak times, turn durations, guest mix, and reservation trends.
Why It's Important
Even at the host stand, simple visuals help plan staffing, refine pacing, and anticipate crunch periods before they hit.
How to Improve Tableau Skills
Clean inputs: Standardize date/time fields, party sizes, tags, and statuses so charts tell the truth.
Build focused dashboards: Highlight a few metrics—arrivals by interval, average turn by party size, no-shows by day.
Make it interactive: Add filters for daypart, section, or server to uncover patterns quickly.
Refresh routinely: Update data daily or by shift so insights aren’t stale.
Share outcomes: Turn findings into action—adjust pacing rules, tweak staffing, inform pre-shifts.
Smart visuals guide better door decisions.
How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume
8. Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution is the art of defusing tense moments—over waits, seating, noise, or expectations—and steering guests toward a fair, calm solution.
Why It's Important
Handled quickly and respectfully, small sparks never become fires. Reputation stays intact, service stays steady.
How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills
Hear them out: Listen without interrupting; mirror back the concern to show you got it.
Validate and clarify: Acknowledge the feeling, confirm details, and avoid defensiveness.
Offer clear options: Alternative tables, accurate timelines, a manager touch—choices restore control.
Stay even: Calm voice, measured pace, open posture. The room takes its cue from you.
Follow through: Check back after seating. Close the loop so the fix truly lands.
Respect plus options equals resolution.
How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume
9. Time Management
Time management for a host is orchestrating arrivals, quotes, and seating while keeping the team aligned and the lobby flowing.
Why It's Important
It trims waits, lifts table turns, and makes the guest journey feel effortless from hello to handoff.
How to Improve Time Management Skills
Block your shift: Pre-open checks, pre-shift brief, peak-watch, post-shift review—give each a window.
Batch tasks: Seat three, update two parties, then answer calls—repeat in tight cycles.
Delegate smartly: Tag a teammate to handle phone lines or bussing updates during the rush.
Communicate cadence: Quick, frequent updates to servers and managers keep everyone moving together.
Time you plan is time you win back during the crush.
How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume
10. Bilingual Communication
Bilingual communication means engaging guests confidently in two languages—clear greetings, accurate quotes, and smooth handoffs without misunderstandings.
Why It's Important
It widens your welcome, reduces friction, and shows cultural respect—powerful drivers of loyalty.
How to Improve Bilingual Communication Skills
Practice daily: Short, consistent study beats marathons. Aim for service-specific phrases first.
Build a service phrase bank: Wait quotes, seating options, allergy checks, celebration notes.
Mind tone and formality: Match cultural norms—polite forms, appropriate greetings, respectful titles.
Clarify kindly: If unsure, confirm details with simple, direct follow-up questions.
Immerse: Speak with teammates or regulars who prefer that language; repetition cements confidence.
Clarity first, then speed—both will come.
How to Display Bilingual Communication Skills on Your Resume
11. Guest Experience
Guest experience is the whole arc—arrival, wait, seating, ambiance, service touchpoints, and that last goodbye.
Why It's Important
Memorable beats merely fine. The host sets the tone and often determines whether guests return.
How to Improve Guest Experience Skills
Lead with warmth: Eye contact, names when offered, and sincere enthusiasm—no script needed.
Manage expectations: Transparent waits, seating options, and updates keep trust intact.
Sweat the details: Clean entries, tidy host stand, menus ready, clear pathways—signals of care.
Recognize moments: Birthdays, first dates, family nights—mark the occasion and guide the experience.
Recover gracefully: If something slips, make it right quickly and personally.
Curate the journey, not just the seat.
How to Display Guest Experience Skills on Your Resume
12. Team Coordination
Team coordination means syncing hosts, servers, bussers, bar, and kitchen so the room moves as one.
Why It's Important
Good coordination prevents double-seats, balances sections, and keeps service humming even when the door surges.
How to Improve Team Coordination Skills
Define roles clearly: Who handles calls, quotes, bus updates, and table checks during peak? Remove guesswork.
Run crisp pre-shifts: Cover reservations, VIPs, large parties, 86’d items, and pacing plans.
Use concise comms: Short, consistent callouts at the stand and a shared status board keep everyone aligned.
Close the feedback loop: After service, note what clogged and what flowed—adjust tomorrow’s plan.
Build rapport: Trust amplifies speed. A team that enjoys working together moves faster with fewer errors.
One room, one rhythm—set by the door.
How to Display Team Coordination Skills on Your Resume
