Hotel Honeybees

Great service and high-thread-count sheets aren’t the only reasons to visit Fairmont luxury hotels across Canada. Queen bees and their swarms have taken up residence on the rooftop of The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto and on the front-lawn gardens of The Fairmont Algonquin in New Brunswick. Toronto’s beekeeping initiative is part of an effort to serve local honey to the hotel’s guests, and the bees’ urban presence will increase city biodiversity and help pollinate thousands of plants. At a recent media event organized by the Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative at the Royal York, executive chef David Garcelon guided us through a honey tasting (not unlike a wine tasting) and highlighted the importance of local honey (visit ontariohoney.ca) as a means of promoting our ecological commitments to bee culture and local farmers. The three hives in the hotel’s apiary will produce about 600 pounds of the sweet stuff this season. I sampled it right from the roof and it was a sugary delight with a hint of citrus – yum!
- Hannah Bank, Assistant Home & Food Editor

Visit fairmont.com or call 800-441-1414.