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 loaded partnership” while voting was conducted in July and early August. Throughout the campaign, whenever the IronPigs loaded the bases, they displayed a QR code on Coca-Cola Park’s big board with a link that took fans to the voting website. The team also announced voting details during defensive lineups.
Haines praised the teamwork of the hotel’s 200 employees. Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Yolanda Velez, senior housekeeper at the Hotel Bethlehem, opens the results with director Kelly Ronalds standing near her Wednesday, Aug. 14.
2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Yolanda Velez, senior housekeeper at the Hotel Bethlehem, on Wednesday, Aug.
14, 2024, hugs Bruce Haines, a managing partner of the business, after she opens the letter announcing that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Alex Michaels, president and CEO of Discover Lehigh Valley, speaks Wednesday, Aug.
14. 2024, during a news conference at the Hotel Bethlehem announcing that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Yolanda Velez, senior housekeeper at the Hotel Bethlehem, on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, hugs Bruce Haines, a managing partner of the business, after she opens the letter announcing that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call)(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14. 2024, during a news conference at the Hotel Bethlehem announcing that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Hotel Bethlehem staff and others gather outside the building Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, to celebrate with a group photo the announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Hotel Bethlehem staff and others gather outside the building Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, to celebrate with a group photo the announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Yolanda Velez, senior housekeeper at the Hotel Bethlehem, opens the results with director Kelly Ronalds standing near her Wednesday, Aug. 14.
2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug.
14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug.
14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Kurt Landes, president and general manager of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, speaks Wednesday, Aug.
14. 2024, during a news conference at the Hotel Bethlehem announcing that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, as director Kelly Ronalds stand behind during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest. It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest.
(April Gamiz/The Morning Call) Staff members from the Hotel Bethlehem are joined by IronPigs mascot FeFe on Monday to kick off the hotel's "grand slam" campaign to win the Best Historic Hotel in America for the fourth consecutive year. (Courtesy of Historic Hotel Bethlehem) Bruce Haines, managing partner of the Hotel Bethlehem, speaks Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, during an announcement that the facility won first place in the USA Today 10 Best Historic Hotels contest.
It is the fourth consecutive year the hotel won first place in the contest. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call) “We did it because of the service you provided to our customers,” he said. “Our customers then wanted to vote for us.
They wanted to come back. They feel like this is their second home because of you and the interaction they have with you. “Even more important, what really puts us over the top is our secret weapon, which is the community,” Haines said.
“We’re still a community hotel, and at that bar every night, there’s half the people sitting there from overseas or wherever, and the other half of people that live somewhere in the Lehigh Valley. The support of the Lehigh Valley is what makes this happen.” Alex Michaels, president and CEO of Discover Lehigh Valley, said things have been exciting the last few weeks in Bethlehem as the city’s historic Moravian Church settlements were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 26 after a two-decade effort.
“We couldn’t be more appreciative to have a partner in tourism like Hotel Bethlehem,” Michaels said. “It sits here in this incredible, beautiful, historic destination.” Don Cunningham, president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.
and a former Bethlehem mayor, said the hotel has two important factors for growth: the quality of place and quality of workforce. “You have the workers with the right skill and the right dedication, the right work ethic, and you have a special place,” Cunningham said. “You have the secret sauce here in Hotel Bethlehem, and I believe we have the secret sauce across the Lehigh Valley.
We’re an overnight sensation that was only about three or four decades in the making, so I think this is an example here, in microcosm, of what has happened across the Lehigh Valley, you set the bar super high, and you continue to deliver.” All the winning hotels are affiliated with Historic Hotels of America, which is a collection of more than 300 properties under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Hotel Bethlehem and The Peabody are the only hotels to have won the award for at least three straight years.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at [email protected]..
