Photo credits: Le Méridien Beach Plaza.
Le Méridien Beach Plaza has installed two new nesting shelters for mason bees, deepening its environmental strategy with a focus on supporting wild pollinators. The initiative, developed in partnership with Les Dorloteurs d’Abeilles, a French organization specializing in wild bee conservation, aligns with ongoing efforts by the hotel to integrate biodiversity into its operational practices.
The shelters are located on the hotel’s rooftop and one of its terraces, both facing the Mediterranean Sea. They are intended to support mason bees - solitary, non-aggressive insects that do not produce honey but serve as effective pollinators. Unlike honeybees, mason bees forage alone, but their contribution to plant reproduction and ecosystem health is significant. According to entomologists, they are among the most efficient pollinators of fruit trees and flowering plants, making them key to both biodiversity preservation and agricultural stability.
This move is part of a broader environmental policy at Le Méridien Beach Plaza. Over the past several years, the hotel has introduced a range of measures including insect hotels, bird nesting boxes, a rooftop herb garden, and eco-conscious landscaping practices. These efforts are designed to create habitats for local fauna and flora while minimizing the hotel’s ecological footprint.
The property sits next to the Larvotto Marine Protected Area, a designated zone along the Monaco coastline established to safeguard marine biodiversity. Its proximity to this protected region has informed the hotel’s approach to environmental stewardship, which emphasizes tangible, site-specific action over symbolic gestures.
The hotel’s biodiversity initiatives are consistent with Monaco’s National Biodiversity Strategy, a framework led by the Department of the Environment aimed at conserving the Principality’s natural heritage and raising public awareness of environmental issues.
Le Méridien Beach Plaza remains the only hotel in Monaco with a private beach. Located in the Larvotto district, it offers 398 rooms and suites, multiple dining venues, and a conference center capable of hosting up to 2,000 guests.