BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Hotel Bethlehem on Friday was designated by national newspaper USA Today as the country's Best Historic Hotel.
Hotel industry insiders, staff and guests came together at the historic hotel to celebrate the record-tying announcement, matched only by The Peabody in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Peabody had better be ready to be eclipsed next year, Hotel Bethlehem Managing Partner Bruce Haines said.
- Historic Hotel Bethlehem secured first place in USA Today's 10 Best Historic Hotels list for 2023
- This year's win marks three straight years of first place finishes for the hotel
- Hotel Managing Partner Bruce Haines commended his partners, the staff, customers and the community for their support, which led to the victory
The hotel, which has been a fixture of the community and host to guests including John F. Kennedy, Henry Ford, the Dalai Lama, Amelia Earhart and more, is affiliated with Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“How exciting is this, three-time national champions, right? We’ve been talking about a three peat, we've been talking about a hat trick, we've been talking about a Triple Crown, and we did it. I’m just so proud to be part of this team.”Hotel Bethlehem Managing Partner Bruce Haines
For the contest, USA Today has a team of travel writers select the top 20 historic hotels — a subcategory established in 2015 — before a four-week voting period, during which the public can vote for its favorite.
Competition is stiff, Haines said, as anyone can enter a vote once a day, resulting in historic hotel fanatics taking the contest, and Hotel Bethlehem’s hat trick victory, quite seriously.
Indiana’s French Lick Resort took the top prize in 2015, followed by The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in Riverside, California in 2016.
In 2017, the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan earned the top spot, before The Peabody secured the honor three years in a row.
In 2019, Hotel Bethlehem took third place, followed by a second-place finish in 2020, before its three consecutive first-place wins.
'How exciting is this?'
Before the tense reveal of Hotel Bethlehem’s victory, Haines had two employees — Senior Restaurant Manager Bob Herstich and worker Gerber Vasquez — open up the envelopes for the runners-up.
Haines commended Vasquez’s diligent efforts to secure the grand prize, noting that he made it a point to encourage co-workers, family and friends to vote each and every day, resulting in the slogan of “Be Like Gerber.”
“Eight in the morning, every single day, I had the alarm on to tell everybody at work ‘Did you vote today? Did you vote today?" Vaszquez said.
"I’ve got to make sure everybody voted," he said. "And then my family, my friends, everybody was pretty much involved in it.”
Upon revealing the hotel's crowning achievement, Haines applauded the staff for its hard work.
“How exciting is this, three-time national champions, right?” Haines said. “We’ve been talking about a three peat, we've been talking about a hat trick, we've been talking about a Triple Crown, and we did it.
"I’m just so proud to be part of this team.”
Expanding upon what secured their victory, Haines said explained the “four-legged stool” that kept the 101-year-old hotel going.
It includes the partners who came together to buy the hotel in 1998, the staff that keeps it operating, the customers who keep coming back to enjoy the amenities and the community that was fostered by and, in turn, offered support to the establishment.
'I think of Hotel Bethlehem'
Haines went so far as to thank noted guests in the audience who had patronized the hotel for decades, including a guest he had enjoyed breakfast with that very day.
“He says it's like baking a cake," Haines said. "He said the ingredients — like a warm glance and a smile from the staff and the elegance of the lobby and the general experience as you walk through the lobby of everyone acknowledging you — he’s so thankful of the peace and the kindness of the staff here at our hotel.
"And he said, ‘When I think about Bethlehem, I would think of Bethlehem Steel, and now, I think of Hotel Bethlehem,'” Haines said.
"So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”Jo Ann Haines, Hotel Bethlehem director of merchandising
Jo Ann Haines, the hotel's director of merchandising and Bruce Haines’ wife, said she was thrilled to see the passion and dedication from the staff, a pivotal element that helped lock down the first-place finish.
“I did not know what [Bruce] was going to say, so I'm going to be a little repetitive," she said. "But 55 years ago — because I'm old, you know — when I started my career, my very first boss said to me, ‘Jo Ann, you do not have to know everything. You just have to be passionate about what you know.'
"I have lived that my whole entire life and you all, because of your passion for your jobs, for this hotel, for our customers, for everything that happens here, your passion is the reason we got this third time award. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
