Say goodbye to the champagne glass hot tubs and this adults-only Poconos honeymoon destination

EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — A giant, plastic hot tub shaped like a champagne glass sat empty on a dreary Wednesday afternoon, but Margaret and Corey Bienert drove 500 miles in the pouring rain to fill it with bubbles one last time.

The Bienerts, who’ve authored a popular book on kitschy hotels and amassed more than a million followers on social media, love the Pocono Palace. Like, seriously love it. Last year, the Michigan couple renewed their wedding vows at the iconic honeymoon hotel, and on this recent trip, their 10th overall, they dropped a few hundred dollars for room 707. The two-tiered suite is dripping in mirrors and a half dozen shades of red, a time warp to the 1970s with an indoor, heart-shaped pool, a sauna, and that requisite hot tub.

The Palace will close for good on May 2, and by the end of their stay, the Bienerts probably spilled a tear or two into the suds.

“It’s a very special place,” Margaret, wearing a Pocono Palace shirt, said by the circular bed on the second floor.

Tens of thousands of honeymooners felt the same way for more than a half-century. Once synonymous with newlywed bliss in the Philadelphia and New York City regions, the Poconos has welcomed couples, lovers, and the curious at hotels like the Palace and its sister sites, Cove Haven and Paradise Stream resorts, for decades. Their founder, Poconos native Morris B. Wilkins, invented both the heart-shaped tub and the champagne glass whirlpool and single-handedly promoted the region as “The Honeymoon Capital of the World.”

“Morris Wilkins has done more for romance than a box of chocolates,” the Philadelphia Daily News wrote in 2000.

According to a 1971 Philadelphia Inquirer, “young newlyweds said they loved the beautiful rolling hills, cool fragrant air, serene landscapes, romantic settings and luxurious or homey accommodations.” That same year, a two-page photo spread in Life magazine featured a sensuous kiss in a Pocono bubble bath, with a caption that wondered if the scene ushered in a new era of “affluent vulgarity.”

Lawrence Squeri, author of Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania’s Vacationland, said the region’s role in honeymoons evolved after World War II, when America had money, cars, and free time to explore.

“For the first time ever, people could really drive and the Poconos was conveniently located near Philadelphia and New York,” Squeri said. “What did it in, ultimately, was air travel. Eventually, it became fairly cheap to fly down to the Caribbean or Florida, or any of the islands and the Poconos started losing a bit of its luster.”

Christopher Barrett, president and CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, noted that both Cove Haven and Paradise Stream will remain open and that tourists can still soak in a 7-foot champagne glass there. He said the opening of three indoor water parks in the last 20 years is proof that the Poconos market has simply changed.

“We still make memories, just in different ways,” Barrett said.

The Bienerts, who work in video and photography, found Pocono Palace in 2018 while traveling for work. They’re both in video and photography and rather than spend money at your ho-hum, modern hotels off highway exits, they looked a little harder for “untouched vintage.”

Pocono Palace was the hotel that truly sparked their passion for vintage hotels. They now have 1.3 million followers on TikTok, where a post about the history of champagne tubs has 319,000 likes. When the Bienerts announced the closure on Instagram, fans were heartbroken.

“If they turn it into a regular, boring hotel, we riot,” one fan commented.

Cove Pocono Resorts announced the closure itself on Facebook in February and did not return requests for comment. The new owners could not be reached for comment, but people familiar with Pocono Palace said they did not think it would continue as a hotel.

The Bienerts had a few days planned to memorialize the Palace. They brought a few costumes, were expecting a few visitors, and would probably make some content for their pages. Mostly, they’d be in mourning.

“It feels like a wake,” Corey, 35, said.

Margaret, 34, said their interest in the hotel isn’t solely for content, though. It’s not ironic either. They truly love the aesthetic and the people who stay there, regular couples looking for a heavy dose of romance for the weekend.

“You’re just here with a very interesting crowd, just people who are here to enjoy each other,” she said.

The couple’s interest in the hotel was so great, their reach so wide, that they’ve been credited for actually boosting business there.

“They certainly had an impact,“ said Kyle Kuczma, the former marketing director at Pocono Palace. “If they put out a video or they promoted a promo code, we saw a direct spike online.”

Kuczma grew so friendly with the Bienerts that he officiated when they renewed their vows. The couple traveled to Italy recently for his wedding, too.

Kuczma said Pocono Palace marketing eventually accepted the “kitsch” factor and went with it while he worked there.

“We were leaning really hard on the romance, to come here and fall in love, and that worked in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and up to the ‘90s,” he said. “The resorts are funny, though. You’re taking a bath in a 7-foot-tall champagne glass. You have to lean into that.”

Kuczma said celebrities have stayed at the Palace, often under a false name. Lucy Dacus, of the band boygenius, filmed the video for her song “Night Shift” there, and the Bienerts helped organize a Marc Jacobs fashion shoot there. Their suite could be a perfect backdrop for another video.

“A friend said it’s very Lana Del Ray,” Margaret said.

The Bienerts say they’ll always be obsessed with vintage, kitschy hotels, and the places that go heavy on romance and fantasy, like Cherry Hill’s Feather Nest Inn, will always appeal to them. But they’re also eyeing other art projects and films.

They want some keepsakes and may have already measured whether the champagne glass hot tub would fit in an extra room. They’ll rent a U-Haul and bring the wrenches.

“I’ve been looking at just about everything and wondering what exactly they’ll miss,” Margaret said.

The Bienerts said they’d likely return to the Poconos, U-Haul or not, but the end of the Palace would leave a hole in their hearts, a hole as big as Morris Wilkins’ glossy red heart tubs.