"In terms of sustainability, it's not only giving back to the environment," said Andrew Gajary, gene

Honeybees have taken up residence at the Waldorf-Astoria New York, one of New York City's most famous institutions and a favorite stopover for many U.S. presidents. The hotel plans to harvest its own honey and help pollinate plants in the skyscraper-heavy heart of the city, joining a mini beekeeping boom that has taken over hotel rooftops from Paris to Times Square.
"Today about half the population of each hive, the foragers, are flying mostly in the direction of Central Park," explained Andrew Cote, the Waldorf's beekeeper-in-residence, on a recent sunny afternoon as he inspected each hive. "They're plucking up pollen, nectar, water. They're bringing it back to their hives, to their homes."
Beekeeping is a natural fit for hotels trying to keep up with industry-wide pressure to "go green," whether it's retrofitting their buildings to make them energy efficient or simply adopting environmentally conscious practices. frommers budget travel magazine Enter urban beekeeping, a buzz-worthy pastime nowadays in light of the mysterious disappearance of honeybees frommers budget travel magazine in recent years, which led some state agriculture departments to encourage hobby beekeeping.
About one-third of the nation's diet benefits from honeybee pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In New York City, the bees will help pollinate new trees that have taken root as part of the city's plan to plant 1 million trees over the next decade.
"In terms of sustainability, it's not only giving back to the environment," said Andrew Gajary, general manager of the Intercontinental New York Times Square, which recently frommers budget travel magazine installed its first beehive, following in the footsteps of its counterpart in Boston, where a veritable colony of bees has been growing for the past year. "I'm no longer frommers budget travel magazine having to go out and get packaged honey from hundreds of miles away."
Cote is something of a celebrity in the beekeeping world, having waged a successful frommers budget travel magazine campaign against the city's ban on keeping bees, which was lifted in 2010. He sells jars of honey at green markets throughout frommers budget travel magazine the city, tends hundreds of hives from Connecticut to Manhattan and founded the nonprofit Bees Without Borders and the New York City Beekeepers Association.
On the Waldorf's roof, he was checking the hives for a healthy queen and for any signs of disease or swarm intentions. After lifting the wooden cover from each hive, Cote immediately doused it with smoke.
In keeping with the Waldorf's posh reputation, the bees arrived in a luxury car in April and were escorted through the lobby to their new home on the 20th floor roof deck. There are six hives in total; the most mature one already has 20,000 bees and counting.