When people pay to stay in a hotel, they expect the appliances, fixtures, furniture and grounds to be in working order. Behind the scenes, the hotel maintenance staff keeps things operating and in good condition. This can be a complex job that requires a host of basic repair and troubleshooting skills.

A Jack of All Trades

In a hotel, a staff maintenance person responds to requests for repairs to the inside or outside of the building. They change light bulbs and fix faucets, but they may also do more complex tasks such as maintaining heating and air conditioning units or landscaping the grounds. An organized, skilled maintenance person will also inspect the grounds, buildings, furniture and equipment in the hotel for things in need of repair. If the repairs are out of the employee's sphere of knowledge, he will call on trusted contractors to take care of plumbing, electrical or structural problems. Maintenance jobs typically don't require any special training, although some workers have attended a technical school or community college to learn about basic repair techniques. Maintenance workers in all kinds of workplaces earned a median income of $35,210 a year as of May 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.