Washington D.C. hotel is for the bees

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a leader in responsible tourism, promotes environmental stewardship and sustainability awareness via the implementation of its proprietary Green Partnership Program – a company-wide pledge to better handle waste management, energy and water conservation. Under the manta of “reduce, reuse and recycle,” the hotel chain’s environmental standards have served as a model for industry leaders as well as competitors.

Now, Fairmont is taking its eco-awareness efforts a step further by means of natural conservation. As a response to the growing honey bee shortage crisis in the U.S., the company is setting up a “bee preserve” of sorts in the nation’s capital, making The Fairmont Washington, D.C. the new home to over 100,000 Italian honeybees.

Following the example set by the company’s first honey bee endeavor at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, Fairmont Washington, D.C. will the first and only hotel in the city to take on the challenge of raising honey bees. Similar efforts are already underway at The Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews, New Brunswick and The Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Building an ecosystem for all

As a natural catalyst of ecosystem vitality and survival, the bees will play an integral part in the hotel’s operations as well as the ecosystem of the surounding area. The bees’ presence and activities will be made to enhance the hotel’s culinary program as well as its gardens, not to mention the plants, trees and flowers in the surrounding West End neighborhood.

Each of the installed beehives will be the home of one queen bee and around 33,000 worker bees. The bees are expeted to travel as far as three miles from their rooftop home to find  food, making the nearby Rock Creek Park a prime spot for nectar harvesting.

Executive Sous Chef Ian Bens and Executive Pastry Chef Aron Weber will be pairing up as Co-Chief Bee Keepers. The two expect to retrieve around 300 pounds of honey within the first year to be used in soups, salad dressings, pastries, ice cream and other culinary delights in the hotel’s restaurant, Juniper.

“Many pollinating bees have disappeared due to habitat loss and pollution,” said Bens. “Creating these new hives helps keep the bee population healthy and helps to ensure that plants are pollinated, which is also essential for insects, birds and animals to survive. Eventually, The Fairmont hopes to use the honeycomb to create candles, soaps and even lip balm.”

The Fairmont Bees came from Larry & David Reece in Germantown, Maryland. The Reece family has been keeping bees for over 150 years, and are widely respected among local beekeepers. They are extremely bee-centered, rather than commercially oriented beekeepers, which explains the long-term strength and viability of their hives.

For more information, visit www.Fairmont.com.