School & Group Reservations Coordinator

Chabot Space & Science Center unlocks the beauty and power of science for Oakland, the East Bay, and beyond. Perched on 14 acres in the redwoods above the city, Chabot is home to immersive exhibits, a state-of-the-art planetarium, the official NASA Ames Visitor Center, and the largest free public observatory in the Western United States.

The School & Group Reservations Coordinator is the first touchpoint for every teacher, group leader, and camp director bringing their group to Chabot. This person owns field trips, group visits, and overnight programs from the first inquiry through the day of the visit, combining sales, relationship-building, and logistics into one seamless experience. You’ll know Chabot’s full range of offerings, from rentals to the Oakland Space Academy to team-building experiences, so you can guide each group to the right fit and handle their needs in one conversation rather than passing them along.

Building lasting relationships with schools and community groups, and bringing them back year after year, is core to the role.

• Serve as the primary sales contact for field trips, group visits, and overnight programs.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with teachers, school administrators, youth organizations, homeschool groups, community partners, and repeat clients.
• Conduct consultative sales conversations to identify client needs and recommend appropriate educational and group experiences.
• Proactively grow attendance through outreach, follow-up, and relationship management.
• Maintain regular communication with group coordinators before and after their visit to encourage repeat business and referrals.
• Represent Chabot with professionalism and exceptional customer service through phone, email, and in-person interactions.
• Understands all upsell opportunities and stays familiar with rentals offerings, team-building experiences, merchandise, and other programs across the Center, in order to guide groups toward the most appropriate and valuable visitation experience.
• Understands contract and policy terms at an expert level, including how they intersect across different types of reservations, to provide seamless customer service and problem-solving.

Reservations & Program Coordination:

• Coordinate and book field trips, group visits, overnight programs, workshops, and other educational experiences.
• Guide clients through pricing, scheduling, payment requirements, program options, and visit logistics.
• Manage reservation calendars and coordinate classroom spaces, planetarium schedules, lunch areas, observatory access, and other campus
• Collaborate with Education staff to schedule instructors and ensure appropriate staffing for programs.
• Communicate schedules and logistical details across internal departments to ensure successful program delivery.
• Serves as the primary source of policy and operational guidance for Visitor Services staff regarding group and school reservations, ensuring groups can be welcomed and supported without a second touchpoint.
• Maintains a daily floor presence for group and school visit check-ins alongside Visitor Services, and holds regular desk side availability on the floor to assist with reservations questions and support during daily visits.
• Ensures the CRM and website reservation systems are kept current and user friendly, enabling visitors to make reservations independently where possible, and provides timely, expert responses for escalated or nuanced reservation questions.

Customer Experience & Administration:

• Prepare confirmations, contracts, invoices, purchase orders, receipts, and visit schedules.
• Track deposits, payments, outstanding balances, and customer communications within CRM and reservation systems.
• Resolve scheduling conflicts and customer concerns with professionalism and a solutions-oriented approach.
• Maintain accurate records, reports, and booking data to support revenue goals and program planning.
• Collect customer feedback and recommend improvements to enhance the guest experience.
• Quickly process a guest transaction at the time of inquiry or on the floor, minimizing delays and additional touchpoints for the client.
• Performs other duties as assigned

Chabot cross-trains staff across key operational functions to ensure appropriate staffing, visitor support, safety, and a positive guest experience. Employees may be trained to assist with front desk and reception, planetarium operations, floor resets, visitor greeting and way finding, field trips, crowd…