Hotel Bethlehem to Dim Part of Sign Tonight to Focus on Holiday, Community

Dec. 24, 2025

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Tonight, glance toward the rooftop of the Historic Hotel Bethlehem to see how the Main Street landmark celebrates the holiday.

The hotel will continue the tradition of shutting off the world “hotel” in the sign, leaving just BETHLEHEM illuminated in big letters on Christmas Eve.

“Through Christmas night, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle in the holiday season. It’s important for us to take a moment and reflect on what’s truly important. That’s our beloved community of Bethlehem here in Pennsylvania and the miracle that happened in the original Bethlehem more than two-thousand years ago,” said Bruce Haines, the hotel’s managing partner. 

Switching part of the sign off is a tradition that started years ago, although it may been dropped for awhile. Decades later, Haines and partners restored the historic building, maintaining it as a hotel when its future was in doubt.

The hotel remains the anchor of Bethlehem’s Historic Main Street, drawing weddings and events and guests year-round, guests who shop and eat and walk about downtown.

In a statement from the hotel, Haines said he heard of the tradition in 2018 from Debbie Helms, a local resident.

“I thought it was such a beautiful sentiment that I had to bring it back. It’s a very special way to celebrate our history,” Haines said.

Historic Hotel Bethlehem is on the site of Bethlehem’s first home, where on Christmas Eve 1741, Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf named the town Bethlehem.

“On Christmas Eve, we attend Christmas Eve Service at Central Moravian Church. I just love when we step out onto the church steps and see only the word BETHLEHEM in the night sky. It is the most magical moment of the year and reminds us of the true reason for the season,” Haines said.

The hotel is next to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has been open since 1922. The Historic Hotel Bethlehem has 125 guest rooms, two restaurants, two ballrooms and seven meeting rooms.

The hotel looks south across the Lehigh River to Lehigh University, but on the mezzanine level, it has photographs from the 1920s glory days of Lafayette College football. This Lafayette Class of 1982 graduate stops by the Lafayette Room every time I’m at the hotel.

The hotel also has a conference center, extended stay suites, a salon, an ice cream parlor and candy shop.

USA Today rated the hotel the #1 Best Historic Hotel in the Nation for five straight years from 2021 through 2025, according to the hotel press release.