60 000 bees recently checked into two hives on top of the Hilton Slussen hotel in central Stockholm. Soon the hotel's guests can enjoy self-produced honey at the breakfast buffet.
Urban Gardening is the latest trend to have reached Stockholm. Locally-produced organic food is more in demand than ever before. An increasing number of people are interested in growing different crops in central parts of the city. Lately there have been numerous articles in Swedish magazines on how to transform the patio into a dazzling garden and what flower-box the spinach enjoys the most.
It was also through an article about American trends in urban gardening that Peter Eriksson, CEO at Hilton Slussen came in contact with bee keeping in the first place. Inspired by what he read, he started thinking about how his hotel could take the next step regarding environmental efforts.
"The bee keeping and small-scale honey production serves our purpose very well: to better communicate our environmental work. Last summer we received the award " Most environmentally friendly European Hilton Hotel", comments Peter Eriksson.
In late June the first batch of locally-produced honey is ready to be served on the organic breakfast buffet.
"Honey that origins from the city is supposed to be better than honey from the countryside. Pollution due to cars etc is less likely to affect the honey in a negative manner compared to artificial fertilizers which are common in the countryside. Also, the rich variety of flowers in the city also affects city honey in a positive way", he adds.
Isn't there a chance that you will get uninvited bar guests?
"Not really", Peter Eriksson comments. "Bees differ from for example wasps since they are only interested in flowers and not in the food that we humans like. Furthermore they are not aggressive but might sting if their hive is being pushed around. But hey, I wouldn't like it if someone removed the roof of my house and shook it around either!".
This year Hilton Slussen celebrates its 10th anniversary as a Nordic Ecolabelled hotel. Environmental manager Emil Gammeltoft remembers when the application was sent in, in early 2001.
"We sensed a large amount of skepticism when we applied for the Nordic Ecolabel. People didn't believe in getting rid of disposable packaging and installing shower heads with a lower water pressure. But we worked hard and really showed people that it was possible. Today our guests only use on average a third of the water amount compared to other Hilton guests", says Emil Gammeltoft.