06/20/2019
2 min
With its Fairmont Bee Sustainable program and its new digital platform featuring live hive monitoring and in-depth honey analysis.
For almost 30 years, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has been committed to proactively protecting its local environments. In 2008, Fairmont saw an opportunity to help support honey bee health by placing beehives on rooftop gardens. Today, Fairmont's Bee Sustainable program features over 20 honey bee apiaries and more than 20 wild pollinator bee hotels at Fairmont locations worldwide.
Fairmont's 1st foray into France with its newly opened bee hotel at Accor's global headquarters in Paris. For guests looking to further their support of bee health at home, the brand will have its own mini bee hotels available this summer. A great initiative that contributes to the preservation of pollinators!
A refuge for our striped friends
The brand has championed an exciting digital pilot, by installing cameras and hive-tracking devices at 5 of its propertiesaround the world.
For what purpose? State-of-the-art technology tracked the number of visiting bees and distance they travelled per day while honey data collected included analysis of the flower, tree and plant nectars used, the classification of color and grade according to the Pfund scale and the rate of humidity.
The hotels participating in this pilot project are:
- Fairmont Waterfront (Canada)
- Fairmont Washington D.C. Georgetown (United States)
- Fairmont San Francisco (United States)
- Fairmont Yangcheng Lake Resort (China)
- Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club (Kenya)
As the first luxury hotel brand to develop comprehensive onsite bee programming, Fairmont is an industry leader in the support of sustainable practices; the evolution of our continued commitment over the past 10 years with the creation of our Bee Sustainable initiative is no exception.
The importance of bees
Bees are said to be a sign that ecosystems are functioning well. As essential pollinators, they contribute to ensuring healthy plant life and a nutritious food harvest.
Did you know? "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left" said the Nobel Laureate, Maurice Maeterlinck in The Life of the Bee.