BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WFMZ) — Hotel Bethlehem has a new general manager. Kelly Ronalds is the hotel’s first female general manager in 45 years.

“It’s still a little surreal,” Ronalds told 69 News. “To get to take it to that next level is very exciting and really humbling. This is a great hotel with an incredible legacy and the stories that it tells, means so much to so many people that the responsibility of shepherding the legacy, I’m a little awestruck still, I think.”

Ronalds got her first taste of the industry as a 19-year-old University of Arkansas sophomore. She worked as a front desk clerk at a Holiday Inn in Fayetteville.

“I was making $3.55 an hour,” Ronalds recalled.

When she was promoted to night manager at that same Holiday Inn, she still made less than her male counterparts.

“It’s changed a lot. I remember going to General Managers conferences and Management conferences where there might be out of 1,000 GM’s, a handful of women,” Ronalds stated.

When asked if she, at 19 years old, believe that she’d be the head of a prestigious hotel, Ronalds shook her head.

“It was an exterior corridor Holiday Inn with the old giant great signs with the light bulbs on them. I would’ve, how old was I, 19, 20 years old? I would’ve said you’re crazy. That’ll never happen. You think about how lucky, you know, I’ve worked hard but also, I’ve been very fortunate in that I work for people who believe in me and watched me work,” Ronalds said. “I love history and I love preservation and I think to have the opportunity to shepherd a legacy of a hotel that’s number one, on the number one best Main Street, adjacent to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it’s kind of like hitting the trifecta.”

As for the future, Ronalds told us, it’s a delicate balance.

“My mom and my dad had a great saying that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it but status quo can also be the death nail of a business so it’s how do we improve upon what we’ve been doing and that we take the service that we’re known for and take it to another level and keep the community engaged and happy with the hotel,” Ronalds concluded.