We Love to Get Letters Like This One!

This letter just made my day. I hope you enjoy reading it too. If you have a hard time seeing it just click on the image to make it larger on your computer.

By the way, I did receive this in early February, but just hadn't gotten around to publishing it on the blog. It does seem appropos of publishing for today, however, since this guest wrote to us from England. We know that February 29 is grandly celebrated there as Sadie Hawkins day, which is today.

Juli

Danielle Halderman Named Manager of the Quarter for Hawthorne Hotel

Today at our monthly managers' meeting, I was pleased to recognize our Controller, Danielle Halderman, for all her hard work during the fourth quarter of 2007. Danielle led our team on our annual pilgrimage to complete the budgets in a timely and accurate manner, and she was so inspiring to everyone, and worked so diligently on them, that they did indeed get done on time.

Congratulations, Danielle, and thanks for the myriad of things that you have accomplished in addition to the budgets.

Juli

Salem Film Festival

As you know, I am a BIG fan of Cinema Salem, our local and wonderful movie theater. Here is their weekly newsletter for your enjoyment and edification. I hope to see you at one of more of the films during their film festival.

It's here! The Salem Film Fest opens tomorrow night with a fabulous, live talent show and then continues through next Thursday night with a beautiful, powerful, tender, incisive, and challenging lineup of award-winning films from all over the world.

If you don't believe us, you can watch for articles in The Boston Globe, The Salem News (2), The Salem Gazette (4, including an article that was reprinted in editions all over the Boston area), WBZ-TV, and WBZ Radio, and more upcoming.

If you'd like to learn more about the films and the visiting filmmakers, please check out www.SalemFilmFest.com. You can also explore how to save tons of money by buying 8-Day, 3-day, or 1-day passes. For example, and 8-day pass will cost about 40% of what you'd pay for individual films and events.

In most film festivals, the movies are just the start of the fun. People love the Q & A after the screenings, the film-related forums (like tomorrow morning's report on upcoming feature films shooting in the area, presented by Nick Paleologus from the Mass Film Office, starting at 8:30am at the Enterprise Center at SSC), or the parties like the Friday night bash at Gulu Gulu, or the Saturday night extravaganza at Finz.

We could never have created such an amazing festival by ourselves, of course. There's been a crackerjack team of filmmakers, artists, writers, publicists, musicians, filmlovers, and business people who have coalesced around this fun event, as well as a long list of corporate and organizational sponsors. You can read all about them on the website.

To all, we say thanks!

If you want to see award-winning documentaries AND mainstream features, we're still the only theater you need, since the runs of VANTAGE POINT and SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES continue all week. You can check out specific showtimes each day at www.CinemaSalem.com, or see our daily ads in the Globe or Salem News.

We hope to see you over the coming week. As always, thanks for supporting CinemaSalem!
Paul Van Ness

email: paul@cinemasalem.com
phone: 978 744-1400
web: http://www.cinemasalem.com

Wine Dinner March 12, 2008

Here is the menu for our next wine dinner, coming up soon on March 12. It sounds awesome, once again. I will be there, and I hope to see you there. By the way, this is a excellent value, since everything is included -- the reception, the wines throughout the evening, the dinner, and even the tax and the gratuity -- just one price for the entire event.

Juli


The Hawthorne Hotel Presents an Evening of
Fine Food and Wines
Featuring the Select Wines from Gallo
“Uncommon Food and Wine, on the Common in Salem, MA”

Reception

Grilled Button Mushroom Skewers, applewood-smoked bacon
Lobster, Corn and Cheddar Fritters, charred red pepper dip
Grilled Baby Lamb Chops, pomegranate glaze
Whipped Brie and Red Onion Jam Sandwiches
Bridlewood Syrah, Central Coast 2004
Gallo of Sonoma Reserve Chardonnay 2005

Dinner

Braised Veal Breast
Pan-fried potato cake, reduced veal stock with sundried cherries and sautéed cress
MacMurray Ranch Pinot Noir, Russian River 2005

Seared Jumbo Sea Scallop, Citrus Beurre Blanc
Mandarin segments with micro-greens in a filo nest
MacMurray Ranch Pinot Gris 2006

Pan-Seared Ostrich Filet
Heirloom bean ragout, creamy Gorgonzola polenta,
a tasting of native New England winter squashes
Louis M. Martini Cabernet, Alexander Valley, Cabernet 2005

Dessert
Mocha Bread Pudding
roasted bananas and Cask and Cream Angliase
Cask and Cream Tempttion, Cream Liqueur


Wednesday March 12 at 6:30pm
$85 Per Person including tax and gratuity
For ticket information please call (978) 825-4311

Princess Tea, Hawthorne Hotel, Salem, Massachusetts

These first two photos show the princesses dancing together in the ballroom, to the lovely sounds of Steve Belgiorno on the keyboard, and Amanda doing vocals and providing the dance instructions.






This is Jennifer Normant our Banquet Chef. The Princess Tea was her brainchild, and she deserves all the kudos we gave her for coming up with, and executing, a terrific new event for the Hawthorne Hotel. Thanks, Jennifer!

Princess Tea

I've posted a lot of photos of the Princess Tea that was held here at the Hawthorne Hotel on February 23. There were so very many lovely things to look at, from the food, to the surroundings, to our guests decked out in the 'princess' finery -- it was a lovely event.

It was so popular, with a huge waiting list, that we have decided to do it again. So if you missed the first one, get your reservations in for the next (and last one for 2008) now! It is scheduled for April 26, Saturday. Call 978-825-4311 to reserve your tickets now. Please don't wait, because we expect this one to sell out early.

I can't wait to see you here.

Juli

Princess Tea Candid Shots

The Food was Scrumptious at the Princess Tea

Princess Tea, February 23, 2008, Hawthorne Hotel

Photos of the Princess Tea

 
 
 
 

Hawthorne Hotel's Flags of the Week ~~ February 25 through March 2, 2008

This week we end the week with two special requests for flags. If you have a special guest staying with us at the Hawthorne Hotel, or if you simply want that honor for yourself, let us know. We try to honor every reasonable request.

Monday , February 25 ~~ Bulgaria and Rhode Island
Tuesday , February 26 ~~ Burkina Faso and South Carolina
Wednesday , February 27 ~~ Burundi and South Dakota
Thursday , February 28 ~~ Cambodia and Tennessee
Friday , February 29 ~~ Cameroon and Texas
Saturday , March 1 ~~ Canada and Alaska
Sunday , March 2 ~~ Cape Verde and Massachusetts

I hope to see you here.

Juli

Try out our new technology at the Hawthorne Hotel

While the Hawthorne Hotel might have been built in 1925, we don't 'think' like an old hotel -- we embrace technology whenever we think it will enhance our guests' experience with us.

Today I added a new feature to our blog -- the ability for you to leave us a voice mail message that we can publish for all to listen to, right here on our blog.

And it WORKS! Just press the button on the righthand column that says "Call Me" and follow the very simple instructions. Your phone number will be kept private, unless you wish it to be otherwise. I will publish all polite and courteous posts, again, unless you ask me not to do so.

The message below will tell you a little bit more.

I can't wait to hear from you.

Juli

Princess Tea

Today we hosted our first ever (but most certainly not our last) Princess Tea. It was a huge success, and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more -- the charming and lovely little girls, or all of us on the staff.

The photos are all posted at http://tinyurl.com/2kqeho

We are already planning to do a second one on Saturday April 26. Again this will take place at Noon, in our Grand Ballroom. If you didn't come to the Tea today, you may want to check out the photos to see what you missed. But be forewarned, there are a LOT of photos there.

If you want to make reservations for the second tea, call 978-825-4311. We had to turn away over 100 guests for this last one, so don't delay, get your seats reserved SOON!!!

I hope to see you there.

Juli

Hawthorne Hotel Honors Part-time Employee of the Month for January 2008

Yesterday we surprised Tony Baez of our culinary department with the part-time employee of the month award for January.

Tony has really stepped up to the plate to help the kitchen, especially when one of our staff members was unexpectedly called away.

Here you see a candid shot of me giving Tony all of his award-related items, with the staff in the background who were quite pleased to be witnessing this event.

Then we asked Tony to step into our ballroom so we could take his photo with our chefs, left to right, Ken O'Keefe, Jennifer Normant, Tony, and Executive Chef Steve Nelson.

Congratulations, Tony, and thank you for all you do.

Juli

Is a Small Business Meeting in Your Future?

Perhaps the Skylark Room, shown in these photos, would be just the place to hold it. This room can accommodate up to about 20 people, although I think it is the most comfortable for a meeting of up to about 12.

To make things VERY SIMPLE for you, we have a terrific MEETING PACKAGE. It is only $51 per person, and that includes Breakfast, a mid-morning Break, Lunch, a specialty afternoon Break, a flip chart and easel -- virtually everything you need is included, even the tax and gratuities. So it will make your budget planning a breeze.

If you wish to take advantage of this special package, contact our Catering Office at 978-825-4358.

I hope to see you here.

Juli

We're Not Sure Who Wrote This, But We're Happy About It!!

We found the following on Trip Advisor, and since it was so well-written, and insightful, we thought you might enjoy reading it too.

Juli

PrinceRaider

Richardson, Texas

Feb 17, 2008

My wife and I stayed in this handsome hotel February 8 - 12th on the recommendation of relatives. We were not disappointed as this has to be one of our most favorite places in this area of the country. The Hawthorne Hotel is a historic hotel opened in 1925 and today, seems to be center of this community with many locals enjoying their Sunday Brunch and meetings during the week. The rooms are small but appropriate for the time it was built and do provide a lot of ambience of New Engalnd. The famous Salem Witch Museum is just across the street and only about four blocks away is the also famous House of Seven Gables made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne. (Our high school English teachers would be so proud!) One block down from the hotel on Derby Street is a terrific and fun place to eat named the "Beer Works" which is really a sports bar. The staff was extremely fun, hospitable, and really informative about the area landmarks: around the corner from the "Beer Works" is a historic graveyard where even one of the passengers on the Mayflower is buried plus a bench with the inscribed names of those that perished during the witch trials. As mentioned above, the House of Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne's home are just down the street and the guided tour through these homes is really excellent and informative. By the way, one of the areas most famous and excellent home cooked Italian Bistros named the "Bella Verona" is just across the street from the hotel - we enjoyed it so much that we ate here twice! Likewise, the hotel's restaurant provided an exceptional Sunday Brunch and a great breakfast during the week. I would strongly recommend that everyone stay at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem - exceptional ambience and atmosphere, great on-site restaurant, superior location for history, and great restaurants down the street. We will always stay here if we return to this area.

This TripAdvisor Member:
Liked — Excellent location and ambience fo the hotel.
Disliked — N/A
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.

PrinceRaider's Summary

Date of Stay: February, 2008

Traveled with: Spouse / significant other

Visit was for: Quality time with family

Age group: 50-64

My ratings for this hotel are:
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Check in / front desk
Service
Business service
Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend?

absolutely!

I recommend this hotel for:

An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, People with disabilities, Older travelers, Tourists

I selected this hotel as a top choice for:

Museums / Cultural / Historical sites, Other

If at first you don't succeed, keep trying. . .

A few days ago we thought we had figured out how to set this blog up so that you could subscribe to a reminder everytime we posted. Bummer, it didn't work. Now we think we found a different solution.

So, if you are interested, just enter your email in the box on the left column. Do let me know if this works for you, or if you try and it doesn't. The test I did didn't send me the alert until the next day, just fyi.

Juli

Pet-Friendly? That's Us! Here at the Hawthorne Hotel

Here you see Adele, a Salem neighbor, with her charming twosome, Lily and Lady. Lily is the brown dog, and Lady is the white one. They have even stayed in the hotel, and love our Doggie Room Service Menu.

They were out for a stroll, and stopped in to say hello. Lily is especially gregarious, and loves to great the guests who seem so happy to see her.

I hope to see you here, too, at the Pet-Friendly Hawthorne Hotel.

Juli

The Salem Film Fest Is Getting Closer!

Just one more week until it is here. Not only will there be non-stop terrific new films to preview, but most of the filmmakers will be here as well. This doesn't happen everywhere, and certainly not often, so make your plans to come to Salem to enjoy this unusual and special event.

For more information, go to: http://www.salemfilmfest.com/

One of the best things you can purchase is a pass that will get you in to ALL eight days of the films and all of the parties, for one low price, only $90. You can't buy one seat at a Red Sox game or many other events for that price, let alone over a week of entertainment.

I hope to see you there.

Juli

Simon Brings the Twins for a Visit

On the Friday before Superbowl Sunday, Simon Checksfield, our Evening Manager, stopped by with his darling twins, Grace and Ella, for a visit. You can see the twins with Danielle Halderman, our Controller, and Scott Gardner, our Accounts Payable Clerk.

I just happened by with my camera, and could NOT resist snapping these photos of two of the sweetest babies ever. They just look like dolls, and from what I've experienced, they act like dolls as well.

Congratulations, again, Simon! Your family is darling.

Juli