Renaissance Asheville Hotel puts bees on the roof

ASHEVILLE — They checked into the Renaissance Asheville Hotel six weeks ago — all 70,000 of them.

They flew up to the roof, snagged a sky-sweeping view of downtown Asheville and will not pay single cent of the Buncombe County occupancy tax.

"We now have bees," said Drew Walls, the director of operations at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel.

With two hives filled with approximately 70,000 honeybees on its roof, the Renaissance is now the first hotel in downtown Asheville doing urban beekeeping.

"If someone's not doing this, who is?" Walls said, as he stood near the white-and-yellow hives Thursday afternoon.

"It lets people know we are socially conscious. There's no financial benefit to us, but we're going to use this to try and promote the Center for Honey Bee Research and Asheville as Bee City USA."

Walls said the concept started buzzing around the Renaissance in February.

Hotels with hives may be new to Asheville, but it's not the first time this concept has been done.

New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria Hotel has its own rooftop beehives.

Rooftop beekeeping has been gaining popularity in cities like Chicago, Indianapolis and Denver, among others.

"We think of the bees as being out in the country, but they're everywhere," Bee City USA director Phyllis Stiles said.

Founded in Asheville, the Bee City USA program endorses a set of commitments for creating sustainable habitats for pollinators.

Stiles said initiatives like the two beehives on the Renaissance speak to Asheville's dedication to helping bees.

"We have to live in harmony with nature, and so many people think that you can relegate the pollinators to some place 'out there.' But, there's no 'out there' left," she said. "We're trying to be as wildlife-friendly as we possibly can be, even if it's on the roof of a hotel downtown in a city."

Carl Chesick, director of the Center for Honeybee Research, was the person who transported the hives to the roof of the hotel six weeks ago.

Because it can get windy on the roof, Chesick said they intentionally put the hives behind two large blocks on the roof.

"It's so cool to have them up there. It's kind of nice to think they can fly up 12 stories no problem and be able to hit all those trees on their way up and over on Beaucatcher Mountain," he said. "They fly 3 miles in all directions every day. The whole bowl of Asheville is their table."

And having a place for bees could be important, not only for them to pollinate crops but for the bee population as a whole.

Scientists say the bee population has been declining due to a combination of factors, including less access to food, and the prevalence of mites, disease and pesticide use.

Wells, who grew up around beekeeping in West Virginia, said he wants the Renaissance to start a trend among other Asheville hotels.

"I hope it encourages other people in town to say, 'Hey, if they can do it, we can do it,'" he said.

Right smack dab in the middle of town

I found a paradise that's trouble-proof (Up on the roof)

And if this world starts getting you down

There's room enough for two up on the roof (Up on the roof)

The Drifters, "Up on the Roof"