The Restoration Hotel, along with three other partner hotels downtown, has opened its doors to first responders who have come to the area to help with disaster recovery from Tropical Storm Helene.
The accommodations are far more than they typically get during disaster relief.
“First responders were prepared to sleep at the Buncombe County jail or on the floor of a gym. They were prepared for that,” Don Eberhardt, a captain with the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, told Xpress after sharing a teary-eyed account of the program with Gov. Roy Cooper on Sept. 30.
The Kimpton Hotel Arras, Aloft Asheville Downtown and Moxy Asheville Downtown, all members of McKibbon Hospitality, also participated in the program, Eberhardt said.
The inspiration for the program came Sunday night when Eberhardt was sitting with his son, Seth Eberhardt, and other members of the Restoration staff Sunday night, two days after Tropical Storm Helene ravaged much of Western North Carolina.
“We were sitting and thinking about all the devastation,” Don Eberhardt said. “How can we take this tragedy and turn it around? For first responders coming to the Restoration, a place to relax and clear your mind is huge.”
Twelve first responders were in the building within the first hour, said Lindsay Helm, sales manager for the Restoration Hotel.
“They walked in and were just in awe,” said Seth Eberhardt, adding that they walked around snapping photos of the space.
For the Restoration, it felt like a no-brainer after an insane Friday of hosting weddings and lunch service.
Employees began coming on Friday, looking for a place to stay, and when Seth brought his parents over on Sunday and the idea was sparked, management jumped on the opportunity, Helm said.
As of Monday, they had no running water, so flushing toilets are an issue as they are all over Buncombe County and beyond. So they can’t be open to the public anyway, Helm noted. But the hotel is having water trucked in, and the power is on, so they’re better off than many places.
Charlotte Rookley, the operations manager for the Restoration, called a few other hotels asking if they’d be interested in participating, and several joined the cause, offering five rooms each, as of Sept. 30.
“This is more than your standard accommodations, to say the least,” said Seth Eberhardt. “It makes this detail worth it.”
