This is the 2397th most frequent Spanish word.
cortés
Polite; courteous.
'Cortés' in this context defines a person's innate personality trait demonstrating politeness.
Una persona cortés siempre escucha antes de responder.
A courteous person always listens before responding.
In this sentence, 'cortés' describes the characteristic of being courteous as a social behavior.
Es cortés agradecer cuando alguien te ayuda.
It is courteous to thank someone when they help you.
Here, 'cortés' is used to qualify the receptionist's behavior as polite and considerate.