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Essential Interview Questions for Hospitality Support Roles
Room Attendants • Laundry Attendants • Day Porters
Updated 16 June 2025
Hiring front-of-house stars is only half the story for a smooth-running hotel. Behind every glowing guest review is a group of support professionals who keep rooms spotless, linens fresh and public spaces immaculate. Whether you’re staffing a luxury resort or a boutique property, thoughtful interview questions help you spot candidates with the stamina, attention to detail and guest-focused mindset these roles demand.
Below you’ll find 30 ready-made questions, ten each for Room Attendants, Laundry Attendants and Day Porters, along with what to listen for and a sample answer you can share with jobseekers.
How to use this guide
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Pick & mix. Drop two or three questions from each competency area (technical knowledge, guest service, problem-solving) into every interview round.
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Score consistently. Use the “What to listen for” bullets as your pass/fail rubric so every candidate is judged on the same yard-stick.
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Share in advance. Great hospitality workers value transparency. Sending a trimmed version to shortlisted applicants reduces nerves and raises answer quality.
1. Room Attendant Interview Questions & Answers
Room Attendants have the biggest visual impact on a guest’s stay. Speed and precision are the name of the game, but so is diplomacy when you discover an awkward item under the bed.
Question | What to listen for | Sample answer |
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1. Walk me through your room-turnover routine for a standard double. | Logical sequence (strip linen → dust high-to-low → bathroom → beds → floors); time awareness; use of quality-check step. | “I aim for 25 minutes. After stripping the bed I start high—vents and lampshades—so dust falls before I sanitise surfaces. I finish with a walk-around using the 60-second guest view checklist.” |
2. How would you handle finding a valuable item, such as a watch, in a vacated room? | Knowledge of lost-and-found procedure; integrity; chain-of-custody awareness. | “I’d photograph the item where it was found, seal it in a clear bag, record the room and time, and hand it to security within 15 minutes.” |
3. What cleaning chemicals are safe on marble versus granite? | Basic surface-care knowledge; awareness of pH levels. | “Marble is calcium-based so I avoid acidic cleaners and use a neutral-pH stone soap. Granite tolerates mild alkali solutions, but I still spot-test.” |
4. Describe a time you turned a guest complaint into a compliment. | Empathy, ownership, follow-up. | “A guest spotted hair on the bathroom floor. I apologised, re-cleaned the room myself, and left a handwritten note with a complimentary late checkout. They later praised housekeeping on the Voceer review feed.” |
5. How do you stay motivated during peak checkout hours? | Personal pacing strategies; teamwork. | “I batch rooms by floor and set mini-deadlines. A five-minute reset with electrolytes between floors keeps energy—and mood—high.” |
6. Tell me about the PPE you use when handling bio-hazards. | Safety compliance; knowledge of blood-borne pathogen protocol. | “I triple-glove, wear splash-goggles, and place soiled linen in marked red bags for the laundry team, logging the incident per company policy.” |
7. How do you prioritise a VIP early-arrival room that isn’t ready? | Communication with front desk; ability to re-sequence tasks. | “I notify the front desk, pull in a teammate, and split tasks—one strips and sanitises, the other makes the bed and stocks amenities—cutting turnover time by 30 %.” |
8. Which eco-friendly practices have you introduced in past roles? | Sustainability mindset; initiative. | “I labelled separate caddies for micro-fibre cloths to reduce paper-towel use and lobbied for bulk-dispense toiletries, saving 1,200 bottles a month.” |
9. How do you document maintenance issues you can’t fix on the spot? | Detail orientation; system literacy (e.g., HotSOS). | “I snap a photo, enter the work order in HotSOS with room # and priority status, then leave a discreet tent card so engineering can find the issue.” |
10. What’s your personal tell that a room is 100 % guest-ready? | Quality standards; personal pride. | “When the curtain pleats line up and I can’t spot streaks on the chrome from three angles, I know the details are right.” |
2. Laundry Attendant Interview Questions & Answers
If housekeeping is the hotel’s heartbeat, the laundry is its lungs—quietly keeping everything fresh behind the scenes. Top candidates combine fabric know-how with machinery TLC. trycents.com
Question | What to listen for | Sample answer |
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1. How do you sort incoming linen before loading machines? | Colour-bleed prevention; fabric weight; soil level. | “I pre-sort by colour, fabric (terry vs-sheers), and stain category so I can program wash cycles accurately.” |
2. A washer stops mid-cycle with an error code. What’s your first move? | Basic troubleshooting; safety; escalation. | “I cut power, check the drain filter for blockages, reset the breaker; if the code persists I tag out the machine and alert engineering.” |
3. Describe the chemistry behind removing protein stains (blood, food). | Knowledge of enzyme pre-soaks; water temperature. | “A low-temp enzymatic pre-soak breaks proteins; hot water can set them, so I start cool then progress to 60 °C once the enzyme has worked.” |
4. How would you handle a guest’s rush laundry request that conflicts with your production schedule? | Customer-service balance; time management. | “I slot the items into the next open washer, flag the order as express, and adjust folding manpower so regular linen targets still hit par-levels.” |
5. What maintenance tasks do you perform daily on dryers? | Lint-trap cleaning; gasket checks; fire safety. | “I clean lint filters every cycle, wipe moisture sensors, and inspect vent hoses at shift end.” |
6. Share a time you improved laundry throughput without extra labour. | Process improvement; metrics. | “By implementing a colour-coded cart system and staging loads by finish time, we reduced idle-machine minutes by 18 %.” |
7. Which fabrics should never be tunnel-finished? | Fabric care knowledge (e.g., silk, delicate synthetics). | “Silks, cashmere and embellished uniforms can distort in a tunnel finisher; they need low-temp tumble or flat-dry.” |
8. How do you record chemical usage for cost control? | Inventory awareness; data habits. | “I log every chemical delivery and daily draw-down in Excel, generating a weekly cost-per-pound report for the housekeeping manager.” |
9. Explain the importance of ‘par level’ in hotel laundry. | Operational understanding; planning. | “Par is the minimum stock—usually three times daily demand—so laundry can rotate and still cover emergencies. Running below par risks guest impact.” |
10. What’s your proudest “impossible stain” success story? | Pride, technique, storytelling. | “A bride spilled red wine on her satin gown hours before photos. I used a peroxide-based spotter with a steam gun in five passes; the dress went down the aisle spotless.” |
3. Day Porter Interview Questions & Answers
Day Porters are the eyes and ears of your lobby, part concierge, part caretaker, always on display. Their job is equal parts physical work and guest engagement.
Question | What to listen for | Sample answer |
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1. What does ‘guest-ready’ mean for a lobby at 11 a.m.? | Awareness of peak traffic; standards (fingerprint-free glass, tidy literature, scent). | “Clear walkways, polished brass, water station topped up, scent diffuser at 30 %, and zero fingerprints on the lift doors.” |
2. How do you prioritise simultaneous requests from a manager and a guest? | Communication; judgement. | “I acknowledge the guest first, estimate task time, inform the manager via radio, and return to the guest within the promised window.” |
3. Describe safe manual-handling techniques you use for luggage. | Health & safety; ergonomics. | “I use a power-stance, bend knees not back, keep load close, and ask for a team-lift above 23 kg—logged in the manual-handling register.” |
4. A spill appears near the breakfast buffet. Walk me through your response. | Hazard control; guest safety; speed. | “Place wet-floor signs within 30 seconds, radio housekeeping, isolate area with stanchions, then clean or hand over to team—all under two minutes.” |
5. Which cleaning chemicals shouldn’t be mixed and why? | Safety; chemical literacy. | “Bleach and ammonia create chloramine gas; bleach and acidic toilet cleaner produce chlorine gas, both are respiratory hazards.” |
6. Share a time you upsold a guest on an in-house service. | Sales acumen; guest rapport. | “After assisting with bags, I highlighted our same-day pressing; the guest sent three suits to laundry, netting £45 in ancillary revenue.” |
7. How do you stay alert during long lobby shifts? | Personal stamina strategies; shift management. | “I rotate tasks (wiping surfaces, door duties, stock check) every 30 minutes and hydrate every hour to keep energy high.” |
8. What tools or apps have you used to log maintenance issues? | Tech comfort; process adherence (e.g., HotSOS, Flexkeeping). | “I log photos and voice notes in Flexkeeping; engineering receives real-time push alerts with location tags.” |
9. When is it acceptable to deny a guest request? | Policy knowledge; diplomacy. | “If the request breaches safety (e.g., moving heavy furniture alone) or house policy, I offer an alternative—such as scheduling engineering—to solve the underlying need.” |
10. Why do you enjoy day-porter duties over night-porter work? | Motivation fit; self-awareness. | “I thrive on face-to-face guest energy and quick problem-solving; daytime traffic keeps me engaged and visible.” |
Final tips for Voceer employers
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Benchmark pay early. Candidates with strong stain-removal or marble-polishing skills often have multiple offers, mention pay range in the first call.
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Show the career path. Highlight progression from Room Attendant to Supervisor or Day Porter to Guest Services Agent to attract ambitious talent.
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Use Voceer’s screening questions. Paste the most critical two or three questions into your job ad so applicants pre-filter themselves.
Ready to reach over 250,000 hospitality pros? [Post your job on Voceer today and see matched candidates sooner than later]
Happy hiring—and may your sheets stay wrinkle-free!