Yolanda Velez stepped up the podium, envelope in hand. The tension was similar to a batter coming to the plate with the bases loaded and the game on the line as she opened it. “Number one!” she exclaimed, setting off loud cheers from the crowd.
The Hotel Bethlehem has its grand slam. For the fourth year in a row, the hotel in downtown Bethlehem was named the Best Historic Hotel/Resort in America by USA Today’s 10Best . The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon by Velez, a senior housekeeper and 17-year employee, before a crowd of employees, management and local dignitaries that filled the hotel’s 1741 Terrace.
Hotel Bethlehem first won the top spot in 2021 after finishing second in 2020 and third in 2019. USA Today started the contest in 2015. A panel of industry experts and editors at the news organization chooses the nominees and then readers vote for their favorite.
The hotel was ranked higher than other iconic historic hotels such as The Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee; the Grand Hotel Resort in Point Clear, Alabama; The Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu; The Willard in Washington; Congress Hall in Cape May, New Jersey; and The Mission Inn Hotel and Spa in Riverside, California. “You are judged by the company you keep,” Hotel Bethlehem Managing Partner Bruce Haines said when reviewing the competition. Haines and his staff had a baseball theme for this year’s Best Hotel/Resort campaign.
The hotel also enlisted the help of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs with a “bases.