How to Write a Hospitality CV: Examples & Guide 2025

Open doors. Warm welcomes. Five-star service. Your smile makes guests feel at home, but your hospitality CV is what gets you through the employer’s door in the first place.

Whether you’re aiming for a position at a luxury five-star resort or your local family-run café, in this guide, you’ll be served up exactly how to create a hospitality CV. No bland bullet points or generic statements allowed. 

This guide will show you:

• A hospitality CV example that stands out from the competition.
• How to write a hospitality CV that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a hospitality CV.
• How to describe your experience on a CV for hospitality jobs to get any role you want.

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One of our users, Nikos, had this to say:

[I used] a nice template I found on Zety. My CV is now one page long, not three. With the same stuff.

Hospitality CV example for UK jobs

Now that’s a five-star hospitality CV example. 

And we’ve also got CV writing guides for specific hospitality jobs:

• Bartender CV Example & Writing Guide
• Chef CV Example & Writing Guide
• Waiter / Waitress CV Example & Writing Guide
• Customer Service CV Example & Writing Guide
• Barista CV Example & Writing Guide

Let’s break down how to write your own CV for hospitality jobs step by step.

1. Format your hospitality CV template properly

When running a hotel or restaurant, structure is vital. A disorganised front desk or chaotic dining room can confuse guests and weaken their trust.

The same principle applies to your hospitality CV. Presenting your information in a clear, professional format shows employers that you’re paying great attention to detail and understand the role of a great first impression.

✅ How to format a CV for a hospitality job:

• Make sure your CV has all the necessary parts, such as a CV header, work experience section, education, skills, and extra sections if needed.
• Use the classic reverse-chronological CV format (latest experience first) so your recent roles shine; it’s what most hiring managers expect.
• Adjust your CV margins to about one inch on each side and use 1.15 line spacing for readability. 
• Pick a professional font that’s pleasing to the eye (Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman are safe bets). 
• Set the font size to 11–12 pts for the main text, and slightly larger, 14–16 pts, for section headings. 
• Include white space and clear headings to make your CV easy on the eye.
• Save your CV as a PDF (unless the job ad says otherwise) to preserve the layout.
• Use a straightforward file name like “Lucy Oates-Hospitality-CV.pdf”.

Last but not least: Skip unnecessary personal details. There’s no need to include a photo or personal data like marital status or date of birth on a UK hospitality CV. Stick to relevant professional info to avoid any bias.

💡 Pro Tip: Not sure about the perfect CV length? For most hospitality professionals, a one-page CV is enough to showcase your best points. Only go to a second page if absolutely necessary to cover important experience—quality over quantity is the rule.

2. Introduce yourself through your hospitality strengths

A warm welcome draws in guests, and your CV’s personal profile does the same for hiring managers. You haven’t got much time to make a great first impression, as recruiters spend mere seconds scanning each CV, so start with a punchy summary or objective that immediately shows you’re the perfect host for the job. 

➡️ There are two main ways to introduce yourself in a CV profile:

• If you have 2+ years of experience, write a CV summary of 3–4 sentences. Highlight your skills and hospitality achievements. Use the following formula as a guide:

• For entry-level candidates, your CV objective should highlight your skills and include significant accomplishments from previous roles, even if they were not in hospitality. Follow these steps:

Whichever style you use, customise it for each application. Name the target hotel or company and reflect the keywords from the job description. Show that you understand the establishment’s needs.

💡 Pro Tip: It’s often easiest to write your CV summary or objective last. Once you’ve put together your experience, education, and skills sections, you can cherry-pick the juiciest details to craft a compelling introduction.

When making a CV in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional CV template here for free.

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3. Show relevant experience in your hospitality CV

Your experience section is where you prove you’ve learned the ropes of the hospitality trade. Recruiters want to see evidence that you’ve done work similar to the job on offer. This means detailing not just what you did, but how well you did it. Think of it as showing how you went above and beyond to delight guests or improve operations.

✅How to create a job-winning hospitality CV experience section:

• Start with the basics: For each position, list your job title, the employer’s name and location, and your dates of employment. 
• Add 3–5 bullet points under each job, highlighting your key responsibilities and achievements.
• Say what you accomplished and how it benefited the business. Use numbers to prove your value; they draw the eye and give concrete evidence of your abilities.
• Start each bullet with a dynamic action verb for impact. 

One more important step: Mirror the language of the hospitality job posting. If the job calls for someone with banquet experience and you have it, emphasise that. If they need someone with customer service and multitasking skills (which most do), highlight those aspects of your past work. Each CV should be tailored to the specific job.

💡 Pro Tip: Hiring managers care most about what you’ve done lately. If you worked outside hospitality in the past, you can either omit those jobs or summarise them if they provided skills useful in hospitality.

4. Make a strong hospitality CV education section

The education section of a hospitality CV is the foundation of your expertise. It provides context on how you built your skills. Even if your studies were in an unrelated field, you likely picked up practical knowledge and soft skills along the way.

✅ Here’s how to structure your education section:

• Include your degree(s) or relevant certifications, the institution name, its location, and your graduation year or expected graduation. 
• Highlight relevant coursework or achievements in bullet points if you lack work experience.
• Show transferable skills if your education isn’t directly hospitality-related. A degree in Psychology, for instance, shows you understand people. Draw connections for the employer: BSc Mathematics: learned attention to detail and analytical skills that help with managing schedules and inventory.

Keep it concise. Education is important, but experience and skills usually matter more in hospitality. 

💡 Pro Tip: No experience yet? Expand your education section with extra details. Include relevant modules (e.g., “Event Management, Hospitality Law”), academic honours, or extracurricular activities (like organising a charity dinner or being part of a student hospitality society). This shows you’ve been preparing for a hospitality career even before your first job.

5. Highlight hospitality skills on your CV

The espresso machine might break, or a guest might throw a curveball request, but your hospitality skills are what keep everything on track. This section of your CV is where you prove you’re more than just friendly smiles: you have the hard skills and soft skills to handle the demands of the job.

From juggling reservations during the holiday rush to calming an upset customer with tact and empathy, showcase the abilities that make you a hospitality all-star. Use this hospitality CV skills list for inspiration when tailoring your own CV:

Hard skills for hospitality CVs

• Customer service and guest relations
• Reservation and booking management (PMS software like Opera)
• Point-of-sale (POS) systems and cash handling
• Event coordination and scheduling
• Knowledge of food and beverage service
• Health and safety compliance (knowledge of hygiene standards)
• Upselling and cross-selling (e.g. upgrades, special packages)
• Complaint handling and conflict resolution

Soft skills for hospitality CVs

• Communication skills
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Multitasking
• Attention to detail
• Time management
• Problem-solving and adaptability
• Patience and empathy
• Reliability and work ethic
• Cultural awareness (especially useful in diverse, international settings)

Always pick the skills most relevant to the specific hospitality job you’re applying for. Wherever possible, provide proof of those skills elsewhere in your CV:

• If you claim upselling as a skill, you might mention in your experience how you consistently exceeded sales targets for hotel amenities.
• If teamwork is your strength, mention a time you collaborated with kitchen and front desk staff to coordinate a successful VIP event.

✅ Here’s how to nail the skills section:

• Match skills to the job posting. Read the job description carefully and note the skills it emphasises (e.g., Looking for someone with strong customer service and organisation). 
• Mix hard and soft skills. A great hospitality professional has a blend of technical know-how (like using a reservation system) and people skills (like communication and empathy). Include a bit of both to show you’re well-rounded.
• Don’t just list, demonstrate. Wherever you can, tie your skills to real outcomes. It’s one thing to say you have “problem-solving” skills, but it’s stronger to say you “resolved on-the-spot guest issues daily, achieving a 90% guest satisfaction rate.”

💡 Pro Tip: Transitioning into hospitality from another field? Emphasise transferable skills. Skills from retail, customer service, sales, or administrative roles (like communication, organisation, and client relations) are highly valued in hospitality too. Highlight them and note how they apply: e.g., Developed strong customer service skills during 3 years in retail, which translates to handling hotel guests’ needs efficiently.

6. Include extra sections to make your hospitality CV stand out

Think about the little extras a hotel might offer to delight guests—a welcome drink, a free room upgrade, a chocolate on the pillow. Extra sections on your CV act the same way: they’re not mandatory, but they can WOW the recruiter and set you apart from other candidates.

In a hospitality CV, extra sections can showcase your personality, passion, and commitments beyond work history, proving you’re not just a run-of-the-mill applicant.

✅ Here are additional CV sections that can impress in hospitality:

• Languages: If you speak a foreign language, absolutely include this! In customer-facing hospitality roles, being multilingual is a tremendous asset. For example, mention Spanish – Fluent or Mandarin – Conversational. It could make the difference in a hotel that serves international guests.
• Certifications & training: Have you taken a course in food safety, first aid, or hospitality management? List certifications like: Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, First Aid Certified, or Hotel Management Certificate (AHLEI). These show formal training and dedication to your profession.
• Awards & honours: Brag a little if you’ve earned recognition. Employee of the Month, Top Server Award, or any industry awards (even nominations) belong here. It’s proof that your past performance was outstanding enough to get noticed.
• Volunteer work: Volunteer experience shows passion and initiative. If you volunteered at events or did pro bono hospitality work, like coordinating charity galas, mention it briefly.
• Hobbies & interests: This section can humanise you and even spark conversation in interviews. Focus on interests related to hospitality or on relevant qualities. For example: Travel: visited 15 countries (insight into diverse cultures), or: Cooking: passion for food and understanding of fine dining. Avoid generic or unrelated hobbies unless they show a skill.
• Professional memberships: If you’re a member of any hospitality or tourism associations (like the Institute of Hospitality or a local hotel/restaurant association), list it. It shows you’re engaged with your industry and up to date with trends.

💡 Pro Tip: Don’t feel compelled to add extra sections if your CV is already a tight, one-page package of goodness. Only include extras that genuinely strengthen your candidacy. For instance, listing your photography hobby might not help for a front desk role, but mentioning you run a travel blog could, since it relates to the hospitality world.

7. Attach a cover letter with your hospitality CV

Some say the cover letter is old-fashioned, but don’t buy it. A well-written cover letter is still often the tie-breaker that can get you an interview.

Think of it as your personal voice-over to the CV: it gives you a chance to speak directly to the hiring manager, explain your motivation, and highlight key parts of your story in a more conversational tone. It’s especially important in hospitality, where personality and passion shine through in how you communicate.

✅ Here’s how to write a great cover letter for hospitality jobs:

• Use proper cover letter format.
• Start with a professional heading (your contacts and the company’s address), and address the hiring manager by name. 
• Hook them with a strong cover letter opening. Mention an impressive achievement or express your enthusiasm for the company. Show immediate relevance and passion.
• Explain why you’re excited about this role and how your experience has prepared you for it.
• Highlight a couple of accomplishments that are most related to the job. Be genuine: hospitality is all about people, so let your people skills and positive attitude come through.
• Finish your cover letter with a call to action: In your closing lines, thank the reader for their time, and politely prompt the next step. 
• End with a professional sign-off, such as “Sincerely” or “Best regards,” followed by your name.
• Keep the cover letter to one page at most.

💡 Pro Tip: Keep the cover letter layout clean, just like your hospitality CV template, and ideally use the same font and style for a cohesive look.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your CV will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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Sources

• Undergraduate Research Center UC Davis: Poster Design Principles & Tips: From Font Sizes to Color Contrast
• Paul Gray, "Make your CV count – recruiters decide in 7 seconds"
• University of Nottingham Career and Employability Service: Action verbs