Trends in Luxury: Louis Vuitton Honey Cultivated from Rooftop Beehives

Six Senses Spa, ParisFrom San Francisco to Paris, luxury hotels are going green and installing beehives on their roofs. Bee populations are disappearing at an alarming rate, a crisis which jeopardizes our entire food system, as one third of the foods we eat are pollinated by honeybees. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts led the pack when it started the trend a few years ago. Rooftop beehives at theFairmont Royal York in Toronto, the Fairmont San Francisco, and the Fairmont Washington D.C. (to name a few), supply honey for the restaurant kitchens and spas.

InterContinental Boston is another noteworthy example, its roof deck home to some 120,000 bees which pollinate the surrounding urban gardens (like the Rose Kennedy Greenway). The only hotel in the city to have its own apiary, the InterContinental Boston uses its own honey in delicious cocktails. Try the L’Orange Miel, a drink made with Pierre Ferrand 1er Cru Cognac, Grand Marnier, fresh clementines and honey syrup,

When we checked out the buzzworthy Six Senses Spa right after it opened in Paris, we loved that it used local products in its treatments. Louis Vuitton honeyYou guessed it: The Paris Rooftop Honey Facial uses honey harvested by a local association of urban beekeepers who tend hives placed on city rooftops. And the Westin Hotel- just adjacent to the spa- has its own hives, too.  

Now we hear that Louis Vuitton has produced its own honey called La Belle Jardinière. Beautifully packaged, the honey comes from three rooftop beehives at the Louis Vuitton headquarters on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Sadly, these lovely jars aren’t available for retail purchase. They’ll be given as gifts to the family and friends of the luxury label.