Hiring in the hospitality industry is all about finding people with a service-oriented mindset, excellent customer service skills, and the ability to create memorable experiences for guests and customers. You can glean these behaviors in your interviews with candidates, but to do that, you need to ask the right hospitality interview questions.
This blog post will highlight the skills and traits that candidates should have in each major hospitality sector, plus provide a list of general hospitality interview questions suitable for any candidate, whether they’re applying for a role in food service, recreation, or another area.
Let’s get started.
How to Ask the Right Hospitality Interview Questions
There’s no one-size-fits-all list of hospitality interview questions; the hospitality industry encompasses several distinct areas, each with its own set of challenges and skill requirements.
Let’s take a closer look at what to consider for different hospitality roles.
Essential Skills Across Each Hospitality Sector
- Food Service: Food service candidates should be able to work in fast-paced environments, maintain high levels of customer service, and work well under pressure. Look for experience in managing customer interactions and working efficiently during peak hours.
- Event Planning: Successful event planners are highly organized, detail-oriented, and have a knack for curating memorable experiences for guests. They should have an eye for aesthetics, too. This can be helpful since some event planners are involved in designing venues layouts and selecting decorations.
- Recreation: In this sector, creativity, enthusiasm, and the ability to keep guests entertained are crucial. Ask interview questions that assess whether candidates can create fun and engaging experiences for customers.
- Hotel and Lodging: Candidates here need to excel in customer service, demonstrate adaptability, and maintain a welcoming attitude. They should be skilled in handling guest complaints, managing bookings, and ensuring guests have everything they need during their stay.
- Travel and Tourism: Cultural awareness, communication skills, and a love for travel are essential traits in this area of hospitality. It’s also a plus if someone is well-traveled in the regions they serve, so they can recommend the best hotel accommodations, restaurants, and entertainment options to customers and guests.
No matter which area of hospitality you’re in, some questions are universally valuable in assessing a candidate’s fit for the industry. These questions are designed to measure useful traits, like customer service skills, problem-solving abilities, and their passion for the industry:

General Hospitality Interview Questions
- Tell me about your experience in the hospitality industry.
- How do you handle unhappy customers?
- How do you stay productive when business is slow?
- How do you make sure you’re still providing excellent, individualized customer service during peak busy hours?
- Describe a time you successfully up-sold or cross-sold a product or service to a customer.
- What do you like most about working in the hospitality industry?
- What would you do if a customer asks you a question that you don’t know the answer to?
- Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond to resolve a customer issue. What was the outcome?
- Do you prioritize excellent customer service or quick service?
- A customer complains about receiving poor customer service. How would you handle the situation?
- Have you ever trained new employees in the hospitality industry? What’s your method for training new employees?
- How would you turn a negative guest or customer experience into a positive one?
- A customer comes to you complaining about poor customer service from one of your teammates. How would you handle the situation?
- In your opinion, what’s the most important quality to have in the hospitality industry?
- What’s the worst quality to have in the hospitality industry?
- What do you love about working in hospitality?
- Is there anything you don’t like about working in hospitality?
- What advice would you offer someone that’s brand new to the hospitality industry?
- What strategies would you use to turn a first-time guest or customer into a regular?
- There’s good customer service, but how do you provide a memorable experience for customers?
- What’s your go-to ‘surprise and delight’ tactic? In other words, how do you go the extra mile to make sure guests or customers are satisfied with a product or service?
READ NEXT: Top 11 Customer Service Skills (For Managers and Candidates)
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These are some strategic questions you can ask almost any hospitality candidate, but your overarching interview strategy should be tailored to the specific role you’re hiring for. For example, if you’re hiring a restaurant manager, consider asking questions that assess their ability to manage a full staff, handle scheduling, and oversee a limited budget. To better understand their feelings for the industry or their interpersonal skills, the questions provided here are a helpful resource.
For additional tips on interviewing job candidates and hiring within the hospitality industry, check out some of our other resources below! Or, if you want hiring help from a hospitality staffing agency with over 20 years of experience, fill out the form below, and one of our experts can find you qualified candidates in as little as 48 hours.
- 25 Best Restaurant Manager Interview Questions
- How to Hire an Event Planner
- 7 Types of Interview Questions (& Why You Should Ask Them)
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