Hotel Engineer Jobs

When was the last time you stayed in a hotel? Did everything work properly? If it did, it’s because the hotel hired a professional, qualified hotel engineer.

Hotel engineers perform routine and preventative maintenance to protect the assets of a hotel and to keep the hotel running smoothly. The hotel engineer keeps up with the wear and tear that guests put on the facilities of a hotel. His job is to ensure a safe, quality hotel experience that improves guest satisfaction.

The key to success is to perform renovations, remodels, and repairs without disturbing any guests. Essentially he needs to be invisible handyman.

Hotels are always actively humming. A hotel engineer’s job lasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. Every day begins with routine maintenance checks to make sure the walkways, fixtures, walls, ceilings, elevators, air conditioning, heat, ventilation, kitchen, laundry, pools, sound systems, fire alarms, boilers, smoke and CO2 detectors, boilers, water, electrical, and sewage systems are up to standards. It takes attention to details to see if anything is a miss. Optimally, the hotel engineer stops and fixes a problem before any issues arise.

After the routine safety checks, hotel engineers are on call to help with any unexpected problems. This may include fixing faucets, removing snow, landscaping, adjusting water pressure, unlocking doors, correcting power outages, changing light bulbs, killing rodents, or anything else that may improve a guest’s experience. It is helpful, and sometimes required, for a hotel engineer to have licenses to perform certain maintenance. Anything that the hotel engineer is not capable of doing himself, he must outsource.

The hotel engineering department oversees all hotel maintenance issues. They are responsible for monitoring consumption of utilities, ensuring everything is up to code and meets regulations, developing a maintenance schedule, and keeping proper records of all routine and preventative maintenance. Ultimately, it is the hotel engineer’s job to make sure the hotel is a safe environment for guests.

Hotel engineers are a crucial element of any hotel. They must be trustworthy, handy individuals who will stick with the job. It can take up to a year to learn the ins and outs of a hotel. They need the blueprints and all the master keys to allow them access to things like electric meters, water shut offs, waste facilities, and all the other things behind the scenes.

As hotels get more high tech, so do the jobs of hotel engineers. The newest trends in hotels are eco-friendly solar panels and waste reduction methods. Hotel engineers play a role in making sure these methods help reduce costs. 

Hotel engineers work in hotels worldwide. Many hotel engineers earn certificates or degrees in building maintenance. It is helpful, and sometimes required, to have licenses to perform some maintenance.

Some earn certifications such as the International Maintenance Institute’s Certified Maintenance Professional. Others start at smaller hotels and work their way up to luxury hotels in places like NYC, Tokyo, Aspen, or Las Vegas.

Every successful hotel realizes the value of a qualified hotel engineer who can protect their assets. The number of hotel engineers on staff depends on the size of the hotel. Typically there are 3 hotel engineers per 100 rooms. Nearly 1% of hotel industry jobs are hotel engineers – each one making roughly $52,000 to $63,000 per year.

The next time you are in a hotel and everything functions as desired, just remember the hard working hotel engineer working tirelessly behind the scenes. Could this be the perfect hotel and tourism career for you?

Quick Facts About Hotel Engineer Work

Job Title: Hotel Engineer, Hotel Chief Engineer
Office: Hotels and Motels
Description: Perform routine and preventative maintenance to protect all assets of a hotel
Certifications/Education: Certifications and licensing may be required
Necessary Skills: Handyman skills, Guest service oriented, Attention to detail
Potential Employers: Hotels and Motels
Pay: $50,000 to $63,000 per year

Helpful Hotel Engineer Employment Links:

Search Hotel Engineer Jobs on JobMonkey
Hotel Engineer Magazine
National Association of Hotel and Lodging Engineers
Hotel Motel Engineer Association
Hotel Engineering Association
International Maintenance Institute
Hotel Engineers Association of New York