Choice Hotels International Installs Beehives at its North Bethesda Headquarters to Promote Sustainability and Local Biodiversity in Collaboration with Bee Downtown

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Aug 15, 2024, 09:30 ET

150,000 bees, living in hives with a "Bee Hotel" design selected by Choice associates, are already producing local honey

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., Aug. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest hotel companies, has installed three beehives at Choice Hotel's corporate headquarters at the Pike & Rose development in North Bethesda in collaboration with Bee Downtown to promote sustainability and local biodiversity. Pollinating a 3-mile radius from their hives, the estimated 150,000 honeybees housed at Choice have the potential to positively impact 18,000 acres of surrounding land. A colony can produce over 100 pounds of honey in just a matter of months. Choice associates had the opportunity to vote on the design concepts for the beehives and selected a "Bee Hotel" design concept.

Bee Downtown beekeeper tending to Choice Hotel’s beehives at its corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, Maryland

Choice Hotels International. (PRNewsFoto/Choice Hotels International) (PRNewsfoto/Choice Hotels International)

Choice Hotels has partnered with Bee Downtown to provide educational and engagement opportunities for Choice associates to learn about the benefits of honeybees and beehives through honey and cheese tastings, beekeeping Q&A sessions, and hive tours. Honeybees pollinate 70 of the top 100 food crops in the United States.

The collaboration with Bee Downtown underscores Choice Hotels' commitment to environmental stewardship, biodiversity, and engagement, which are key components of its Room to Be Green program for the company's franchised and managed hotels. Room to Be Green focuses on five pillars – Energy, Water, Waste, Biodiversity, and Engagement – to advance sustainability across all Choice Hotels brands and segments worldwide. Through the program, Choice-branded hotels are required to comply with utility data reporting and waste, water, and energy-saving measures by early 2025.

"Choice Hotels puts people first, and being a responsible steward of our environment is a crucial part of that. We're proud to collaborate with Bee Downtown to host beehives that will benefit the ecosystem in our North Bethesda community," said Megan Brumagim, Vice President of Sustainability for Choice Hotels. "Bees play an essential role in the health of the planet. We're excited to contribute to our region's biodiversity, engage our associates with educational programming, and harvest around 90 pounds per year of fresh, local honey from our very own hives."

Bee Downtown installs and maintains beehives on corporate campuses to help rebuild sustainable agriculture while simultaneously providing year-round employee and leadership development programming to their corporate partners. Bee Downtown will maintain the three honeybee hives at Pike & Rose, ensuring the bees are happy and healthy.

"We are delighted to have Choice Hotels join 'America's #1 Bee Team' as one of our newest Corporate Hive Program partners. At Bee Downtown, it is our goal to help leading corporations cultivate great places to work through sustainability initiatives and employee experiences all rooted in agriculture. We look forward to many wonderful years of partnership with Choice Hotels," said Leigh-Kathryn Bonner, Founder and CEO, Bee Downtown.

As part of its commitment to sustainability, Choice's office building in Pike & Rose is pursuing LEED Gold Certification and is WiredScore Gold Certified.

About Choice Hotels®
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. The challenger in upscale and a leader in midscale and extended stay, Choice® has nearly 7,500 hotels, representing more than 630,000 rooms, in 45 countries and territories. A diverse portfolio of 22 brands that range from full-service upper upscale properties to midscale, extended stay and economy enables Choice® to meet travelers' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges® rewards program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.

About Bee Downtown: Bee Downtown installs and maintains beehives on corporate campuses to help rebuild sustainable agriculture while simultaneously providing year-round employee and leadership development programming to their corporate partners. Bee Downtown operates in 11 different cities up and down the east coast and manages hives and employee engagement programming for many of America's largest corporations including Choice Hotels, Delta, Wellstar Health Systems, Georgia Power, Cox Enterprises, and more. Bee Downtown is a Forbes and INC Magazine 30 under 30 Corporation, and was most recently named to the INC 5000 list of Fastest Growing Corporations in America. For more information please visit bee-downtown.com.

SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.