The Bees Are Back At The Fairmont Hotels

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 10th 2010 at 10:01AM

One of the most interesting hotel features around are the bee hives at some of the Fairmont hotels. The hotel brand now has six apiaries around the world with hives set up on rooftops and in onsite herb gardens. The bees help the local environment by providing plenty of bees to pollinate area gardens and parks and the Fairmont chefs use the honey in sweet treats for guests.

The Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver shares its herb garden with six honeybee hives on the hotel's third-floor terrace. For summer 2010 they will host 390,000 honey bees producing an anticipated 500 lbs of honey. At the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto there are around 300,000 bees in peak season. The Fairmont Washington, D.C. welcomed 105,000 Italian honeybees in summer 2009 to their three new hives on the roof. The Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club has partnered with local beekeeper Stephen Macharia to bring fresh honey to guests. Stephen started out collecting wild honey from the slopes of Mount Kenya, but by June will have eight hives on property to help pollinate African flowers and the nearby Mount Kenya Forest. The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec hosted four queen bees in four hives in the chef's roof top garden last year. Each hive contains about 70,000 bees that will produce enough honey for the entire hotel, with the extra being sold in the Fairmont Store. And at the Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick the queen bee and her hive feast on nearby Kingsbrae Gardens producing honey which is sold to guests and also used in the hotel's three restaurants. Several of the hotels offer tours so that you can safely observe the bees hard at work.

The honey pops up in desserts, entrees and drinks. The Festive Buzz, shown at right, served at the Royal York includes white peach puree, champagne and the Royal York honey. Check out the recipe here or watch the Royal York bees in action in a video after the jump.

Tags: apiaries, apiary, beekeeping, bees, fairmont hotels

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jehnavi Apr 12th 2010 7:47AM

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a leader in sustainable tourism, was the first major hotel chain in North America to embrace environmental stewardship in its daily operations through the implementation of its own Green Partnership Program. The Fairmont Washington, DC has fully embraced this pledge to waste management, energy and water conservation. The hotel’s environmental committee has developed a number of programs incorporating the environmental mantra reduce, reuse and recycle into the hotel’s daily operating practices.
http://www.wildlifeworld360.com

Jehnavi Apr 12th 2010 7:49AM

Maureen McILWAIN Apr 12th 2010 8:58AM

While we at Kingsbrae Garden appreciate the visits of the Fairmont Algonquin's bee colony, we also have some of our own, and sell our own honey in our Gift Shop. Further to the 'green' efforts, we welcome all the vegetative kitchen and garden waste from our neighbour - the Hotel is just along the road a couple of blocks - to add to our own, as we make mountains of compost to feed our 27 acres of gardens.

An extra boost is when the Fairmont Algonquin has a big brunch and scrambled eggs might be left over. It sounds awful, but when we get a chef or prep cook coming down Memory Lane headed for the peafowl enclosure with a big panful of bright yellow, fluffy eggs, we know our peacocks & peahens will be very happy - they love to dine on eggs!

Good neighbours, good stewards -- good for our embattled planet.

Parag Apr 19th 2010 5:59AM

The Fairmont Safari Club in Mount Kenya offers magnificent views set in over 100 acres of landscape gardens. It gives unique blend of comfort, relaxation and adventure.
http://www.travelafrica360.net/under-the-lap-of-mount-kenya.html

Parag Apr 19th 2010 6:01AM

The Fairmont Safari Club in Mount Kenya offers magnificient views set in over 100 acres of landscape gardens. It gives unique blend of comfort, relaxation and adventure.
http://www.travelafrica360.net/under-the-lap-of-mount-kenya.html