There's a brand-new hotel that just opened in Manhattan Beach, but don't plan on booking your next vacation there - it's for bees, not humans.

The "bee hotel," newly installed at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden, is designed for so-called solitary bees to encourage them to nest.

Solitary bees, unlike other bees, don't live in hives. However, they pollinate 75-150 flowers a day, which is more than honey bees, and they rarely sting, so they are a helpful addition to the garden.

The bee hotel was designed, created, and installed by Lauren Mittleman, a Mira Costa High School senior who has been a Girl Scout since 1st grade. Mittleman created the project for her Gold Award, the highest level of achievement in the Girl Scout program.

"We are so excited about the bee hotel," said Gretchen Renshaw, one of the cofounders of the garden, and a member of the garden's board of directors. Renshaw said that even on the day it was installed, it drew visitors who were asking questions and wanting to learn more about it. "I just think it's going to be really cool."

"A lot of solitary bees are looking for tubes to live in and they like to be near flowers, a source of water, and dirt because they like to use mud to close up their tubes," said Mittleman. "So the location in the garden is perfect because it is near a stream that provides them with all of that."

A bee hotel requires a certain amount of maintenance, said Mittleman, but her design of the bee hotel is designed to make upkeep fairly easy.

"The reeds in the bee hotel would need to be replaced once they’re used, and the wood with the holes drilled into it would need to be replaced every couple of years once the holes are all used up as well," said Mittleman. "The way that I designed the bee hotel makes this upkeep super easy; the front of the bee hotel can be unscrewed, meaning that I can replace whatever needs to be replaced and then screw the front right back on."

Mittleman is waiting to finalize her decision on where she will head to college in the fall, but she will possibly attend a program that includes an international study component. 

"I will continue to be in charge of upkeep while I’m here, but once I go off to college, the staff at the botanical garden kindly offered to take over," she said.

Renshaw said that one thing she loved about the bee hotel was that it helped visitors think of the garden as a lively habitat, not just as a static place where plants grow.

She said it also creates an opportunity to interact with visitors, who are intrigued by the structure and have many questions. "People will say, 'What’s that for?' and 'What's a solitary bee?'" she said. "The garden is about education, and education is about asking questions."

Looking ahead, Renshaw said, she doesn't know when or how many bees will "check in" to the hotel, but volunteers and visitors alike are eager to see. 

"Everybody at the garden is so intrigued. We’re all just dying to find out what happens next," she said.

The Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden is located at 1237 N Peck Ave. in Manhattan Beach, within Polliwog Park, and it is open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The garden, which is entirely volunteer-run, is maintained with all-natural, pesticide-free, and water-wise techniques. Garden leaders have also taken on a new project in the past year, which is to convert its display entirely to native plants.

If you're planning to visit the garden as a field trip or just for fun, please check out DigMB's story about our Top 10 Things to Do at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden.

Group volunteering at the garden is currently on hold, but individuals over 18 are welcome to drop by on Fridays between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.