Valet attendant job description

What a valet attendant does

You handle the cars coming in and going out at a hotel, restaurant, hospital, venue or private event. The shift starts with setup: cones and signs out, key board or lockbox ready, tickets counted, and a walk of the parking areas you have that night.

Once guests start arriving, the work is a loop. Greet the driver, open the door, note any damage already on the car, hand over the claim stub, then park it and hang the tagged key. Getting the car back runs the same loop backwards, against a clock. Guests judge a valet team almost entirely on how long they wait at the podium. In between you keep the driveway clear, park the early leavers near the front, and direct traffic when the lane backs up.

Two things surprise new attendants. First, manual transmission cars still show up, and if you can't drive one, the whole line waits. Second, you are outside in whatever weather the season brings, and you run rather than walk for much of a busy shift.

Closing out is its own job. Match the keys against the tickets, park the overnight cars, write up anything that went wrong, and hand the open items to the next shift. Hotel and hospital accounts run around the clock, so that handoff matters as much as the rush.

Requirements employers ask for

Getting in is easy on paper. The driving part is not. Almost everything on a valet application comes back to the company's car insurance, not to a course or a certificate.

• A valid driver license. Employers check it, and most will not look at you if your license is suspended, expired or restricted.
• A clean driving record. Their car insurance decides who's allowed to drive guest cars, so they check your record. That means pulling a motor vehicle report. Recent at fault accidents, a DUI or a run of moving violations are the most common reasons a good applicant gets turned down.
• An age their insurance will cover. The age on a valet posting comes from their insurance, not from the driving age. That is why two companies in the same city ask for different ages. Ask the employer instead of assuming.
• Manual transmission. This is the most common thing that stops an otherwise good applicant. They ask on the application and often test you in the interview.
• Physical demands. Standing, walking and running for most of a shift, outdoors, often on concrete and through ramps and stairwells.
• Guest service under pressure. You deal with annoyed guests, long waits and damage questions with people watching. Employers look for calm more than charm.
• Local permits where they apply. Some states and cities license valet companies, their attendants or the curb space they use, and the rules differ from place to place. Check your own state and city, and ask the employer which permits they hold and which you need to carry.

You don't need a degree. Some companies prefer a high school diploma, most just train you on the job. That training happens on site, usually in your first week.

Copyable job description

Paste this into your job board, applicant tracking system or careers page and fill in the bracketed fields. The pay line is a placeholder on purpose: post the rate you actually offer. If you want a reference point first, the pay guide has federal wage data by state and metro, with tips counted separately.

VALET ATTENDANT

Company: [company name]
Location: [city, state]
Reports to: [valet manager or shift lead]

ROLE SUMMARY
Greet arriving guests, park and retrieve their vehicles safely and quickly,
and keep the arrival area moving. You are the first and last person a guest
deals with at [venue or account name], so the job is equal parts careful
driving and guest service.

RESPONSIBILITIES
- Greet guests at the curb, open doors and explain the retrieval process.
- Issue and control claim tickets; tag, log and secure every set of keys.
- Drive guest vehicles, including manual transmission vehicles, between the
  arrival point and assigned parking areas.
- Retrieve vehicles on request and meet the posted retrieval time target.
- Keep the driveway and staging lanes clear; direct traffic during peaks.
- Inspect vehicles at drop off and note existing damage on the ticket.
- Assist with luggage, wheelchairs and directions as the account requires.
- Report incidents, damage claims and equipment problems to the shift lead
  immediately and in writing.
- Close out the shift: reconcile keys and tickets, stage remaining vehicles
  and hand off open items to the next shift.

REQUIREMENTS
- Valid driver license, and a driving record our insurance company will accept.
- Minimum age [age set by our insurance carrier].
- Able to drive both automatic and manual transmission vehicles.
- Able to stand, walk and run for most of a shift, outdoors, in the weather
  the season brings.
- Professional, calm and clear with guests under time pressure.
- Available for [shift pattern: evenings, weekends, holidays as applicable].
- [Any state or city permit or license the account requires.]

SCHEDULE AND PAY
[Full time or part time]. [Shift pattern.] Base pay [hourly rate] per hour
plus tips. [Benefits, uniform and meal provisions if any.]

HOW TO APPLY
Apply at [careers page URL] or in person at [address] between [hours]. We
review applications [weekly or as received] and interviews include a driving
assessment.

This is plain text on purpose. It is not a live opening, and this site does not host openings, so nothing here is marked up as one. Post it on your own careers page or job board.

Resume bullets for candidates

Valet work looks thin on a resume when you write it as "parked cars". It reads much better as volume, care and responsibility. Use the lines below and fill in your own numbers. Do not make them up: a manager who runs valet knows what a real count per shift looks like.

• Parked and retrieved up to [number] guest cars per shift at a [hotel, restaurant or event] valet operation, including manual transmission cars.
• Kept an incident free driving record over [number] months of driving guest cars every day.
• Handled keys and claim tickets for [number] cars a night with no lost keys.
• Cut the average wait for a car to [number] minutes at peak by keeping the closest spaces for early leavers.
• Greeted and helped [number] guests per shift with luggage, wheelchairs and directions.
• Directed arrival traffic at [event type] events of [number] guests, keeping the driveway clear for emergency vehicles and shuttles.
• Noted damage that was already on a car at drop off, which cut disputed claims for the account.
• Trained [number] new attendants on key control, ticketing and the parking pattern at that site.

If this is your first resume, read how to become a valet attendant first. It covers what employers check before they ever get to the bullets.