From opposite ends of the country, hotel patrons are getting a healthy dose of Youngstown hospitality from two Youngstown State University alumni. Steve Bartolin and Bill Mehalco are making strides in hospitality management at two prominent hotels and at two different stages of their careers. While Bartolin is nearing the end of a stellar 40-year career, stepping down as president and chief executive officer of the historic Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Mehalco is proving himself as a talented young general manager of the trendy Hotel Indigo in New York City. Choosing Hospitality For Mehalco, a career in hospitality has been a thing of destiny mixed with a little Disney magic. “I was 7 years old when we took a trip to Disney and stayed at the Polynesian Resort,” Mehalco remembers. “I would walk up and down the floors, watch the staff, pay attention to the operations. I was fascinated being in this place that somehow housed all of these people.” Whether the exotic Polynesian or a standard. Best Western, Mehalco has been intrigued by the business since he can remember. So when it came time to start college at YSU, the Hubbard native found his fit in the hospitality management program and never looked back. For Bartolin though, also a Hubbard native, running a front desk took a temporary backseat to running the bases during his early years as a top YSU student-athlete. Pitching for the Penguins on some of the best baseball teams in school history would later earn Bartolin a spot in the YSU Hall of Fame and Penguin of the Year award. But in 1972, it first gave him a ticket to play professional ball for the Detroit Tigers—a career that was cut short by a shoulder injury. “It was the first time I understood how fleeting life in professional sports could be,” said Bartolin. “I came back to YSU to finish my degree; I realized baseball wasn’t going to be the thing that would support me.” Moving On Up Graduating with a business degree in 1975, Bartolin was off to West Virginia for a job at the highprofile Greenbrier hotel. The job, however, was less glamorous than the property. “I was running golf carts around and cleaning clubs,” said Bartolin, laughing. “But starting out in a place of such renown like the Greenbrier was lucky. It was an opportunity for great experience early on.” The experience served him well over the next 12 years. Bartolin landed director and manager positions at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville and returned to the Greenbrier as general manager before his biggest opportunity surfaced four years later. It was 1991 when the Opryland bought the Broadmoor
Bill Mehalco
Hotel and Bartolin’s old connections gave him the job offer of his lifetime – he would be recruited as the next leader of the famed Broadmoor. Mehalco started out in an entry level position, as well. His first industry job came when he was a student – a part-time bellman position at the Boardman Holiday Inn. “It was a sacrifice at the time,” said Mehalco, who had been working in a higher paying job at a Hubbard grocery store. “But I knew I had to put in the time before I was ever going to get a management position in hospitality.” In just three months, Mehalco moved up to the front desk. And in two years, with a hospitality management degree in hand, Mehalco was hired as the hotel’s front office manager straight out of college. Success in the City But Mehalco was set on even bigger career goals. During his years in the Hospitality Management Student Society at YSU, he had traveled to New York for the annual International Hotel and Motel Show and fell in love with the city. “I was 26, working at the Holiday Inn and thought, ‘If I don’t do this now, I don’t know if I ever will,’” said Mehalco. “So I packed up and moved to New York City.” Settling into a tiny apartment in Manhattan with an “eyeopening” high rent and no job, Mehalco started interviewing. His first break came at the Soho House, a 30-room, membersonly posh hotel in the meatpacking district of the city that boasted an A-list clientele. “I was dealing with people like Madonna and Vin Diesel,”
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