The full example
Everything below is fictional. The venues are described rather than named, and the achievements are the kind of thing a real reservations manager does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Reservations manager CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Reservations manager with seven years in hotel reservations and front office, currently running the department at a 180-bedroom four-star city hotel with a team of five. Responsible for rate loading, channel management, the daily pick-up report, group and corporate bookings and the no-show and deposit policy. Works with the revenue manager on the weekly forecast. Looking for a reservations and revenue role at a larger property or across a cluster.
Core skills
Rate loading and parity across channels · Restrictions and close-outs Channel manager (SiteMinder) and OTA extranets · Direct booking share Daily pick-up and forecast reporting · Overbooking levels with front office Group blocks, rooming lists and release dates · Corporate rate agreements Deposit, cancellation and no-show policy · Guest data handling under GDPR Team coaching on conversion and call handling · Enquiry response times Systems: Opera PMS, SiteMinder, Mews (previous property), CRM mailing tools
Experience
Reservations Manager — 180-bedroom four-star city hotel, Birmingham
Mar 2022 – present
· Run the reservations desk with a team of five handling phone, email and
OTA enquiries, setting a same-day response standard and tracking it weekly.
· Load rates, restrictions and close-outs in Opera and SiteMinder from the
revenue manager’s strategy, and check parity across the OTAs each morning.
· Produce the daily pick-up report and the 90-day forecast pack, and sit in
the weekly revenue meeting with the GM and sales manager.
· Manage group blocks for conferences and weddings: contracts, rooming lists,
release dates and the handover to front office on arrival day.
· Introduced a deposit and automated reminder process for non-refundable
and peak-date bookings, which brought the no-show rate down over a year.
Reservations Supervisor — 110-bedroom hotel, Coventry Jul 2019 – Feb 2022
· Supervised two agents, coaching call handling and upsell of room types and
packages, and reviewing conversion from the call log each month.
· Built and maintained the corporate rate list with the sales manager, and
loaded negotiated rates into Mews with the correct booking codes.
· Reconciled OTA commission statements against the PMS each month.
Reservations Agent — 60-bedroom boutique hotel, Leamington Spa
Sep 2017 – Jun 2019
· Took bookings by phone and email, processed amendments and cancellations
and chased third-party confirmations.
· Covered reception on changeover days, including arrivals and billing.Education and certifications
HOSPA Revenue Management course, Stage 1 — 2023 Opera PMS vendor training (reservations and rate management) — 2022 GDPR and Data Protection in Hospitality — 2023 Level 2 Award in Health and Safety in the Workplace — 2020 Fire Marshal training — 2022 Level 3 Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Management — 2017
Additional
Systems: Opera PMS, SiteMinder, Mews, OTA extranets, Excel forecast models Languages: English (native), French (working)
Templates that suit this example
- Modern Band — A header band and clean sections for a CV that leads with systems and numbers rather than service.
- Compact Grid — Grid-style skills and systems blocks, which suit a role defined by the software you run.
- Essential — Plain single column for a hotel group application form that asks for the CV as an attachment.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your reservations manager CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- A reservations manager is hired by a general manager or a revenue director who thinks in rooms, channels and forecast accuracy. The summary has to put you in that language within two lines.
- A strong version.
- Bedroom count, team size, what you own — rates, channels, pick-up reporting, groups, policy — and how you work with revenue. Then the move you are making.
- Common mistake.
- Describing yourself as a people person who loves helping guests find the perfect stay. It is a front desk summary, and it hides the commercial work the job actually consists of.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- This role is defined by its systems and its reports. A reader is scanning for the PMS, the channel manager, the OTA extranets and the reporting you produce; a list without them reads as a reception CV.
- A strong version.
- Rate and restriction management, channel and parity work, pick-up and forecast reporting, group and corporate handling, policy and GDPR, and every system named.
- Common mistake.
- Listing "attention to detail" and "organisation". The evidence for both is in whether your parity checks and rooming lists are right, so show those instead.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- Reservations departments vary from one agent sharing the front desk to a team of ten with a revenue manager alongside. Bedroom count, team size and the reports you produce tell the reader which you have run.
- A strong version.
- For each property: bedrooms, team size, the systems, then the responsibilities that are yours — loading, parity, reporting, groups, policy. Where you changed a process, say what and what it did.
- Common mistake.
- Headline revenue or occupancy figures without context. Occupancy is set by the market and the revenue strategy as much as by the reservations desk, so claim the work that was yours.
Groups and corporate
- Why it matters.
- Group blocks and negotiated corporate rates are where a reservations manager’s mistakes cost the most and their care shows the most. It is also the part of the job that front desk staff have usually not done.
- A strong version.
- Contracts, rooming lists, release dates, the handover to front office and the rate agreements you maintain with sales. Concrete and procedural.
- Common mistake.
- A single line saying "handled group bookings". If you have run the process, it deserves bullets; if you have not, say what you have done nearest to it.
Systems, data and certifications
- Why it matters.
- Reservations handles personal and payment data all day, and hotel groups need to see that you know it. Vendor training on the PMS and any revenue management study are the qualifications that belong to this role.
- A strong version.
- PMS vendor training, a revenue management course, GDPR training, plus the standard health and safety and fire items, each with a year.
- Common mistake.
- Leading with food safety. It is a reasonable thing to hold, but it is not what the reader is looking for, and putting it first suggests you are writing a generic hospitality CV.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
First reservations role — moving across from reception or a call centre
Your summary. Say what you do now and where you want to go: "Receptionist with two years at a 120-bedroom hotel, confident on Opera, looking for a first reservations agent or coordinator role." The reader checks for PMS familiarity and accuracy first.
What to emphasise. Bookings you have taken and amended on the PMS, OTA confirmations you have processed, group arrivals you have handled, and any reporting or rate questions you have dealt with at the desk.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Took and amended bookings in [PMS] across phone and email, including [X] group arrivals a month.
- ·Processed OTA confirmations and cancellations and chased third-party vouchers before arrival.
- ·Covered the reservations desk for [X] weeks, maintaining the response standard on email enquiries.
Certifications. GDPR training and the PMS vendor course if your property offers it. Both are short and both are things a reservations manager will otherwise have to arrange for you.
Experienced reservations manager — going for revenue manager or cluster reservations
Your summary. Shift from running the desk to shaping the strategy. Lead with the forecasting and pricing decisions you already influence, the systems you administer and any multi-property work.
What to emphasise. Forecast ownership, rate strategy input, RMS exposure, OTA contract reviews, direct booking initiatives, cluster or multi-property coverage and the agents you developed.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Owned the weekly 90-day forecast for a [X]-bedroom property, presenting pick-up and pace to the GM.
- ·Covered reservations across two properties for [X] months, standardising rate codes and the group procedure.
- ·Led the OTA contract review, renegotiating commission tiers and reducing dependence on two channels.
Certifications. HOSPA or an equivalent revenue management qualification, an RMS certification if your property uses one, and advanced Excel or a reporting tool course.
Moving into hotel reservations from travel, airlines or a booking call centre
Your summary. Lead with the transferable spine — booking systems, inventory, fares or rates, data handling, enquiry volume — and name what is new: the PMS, channel management and the hotel calendar.
What to emphasise. Reservation or booking systems you have used, enquiry volume handled, accuracy standards, group or corporate account work, and any pricing or yield exposure.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Handled [X] booking enquiries a day in a travel call centre, working to an accuracy and response-time standard.
- ·Managed group travel bookings of up to [X] passengers, including rooming lists and amendment deadlines.
- ·Maintained negotiated corporate fares for [X] accounts and loaded them into the booking system.
Certifications. GDPR training first — you will already hold the equivalent from travel, so put it on with the date. A PMS familiarisation course closes most of the remaining gap.
Next steps
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