How to showcase your accommodation's green credentials with La Compagnie Bourdonnante

Guests today are increasingly attentive to the environmental

commitments of the places they choose to stay. Whether you run a hotel, a gîte,

a bed and breakfast or a holiday rental, demonstrating a concrete CSR approach

has become a genuine way to stand out.

But how do you prove your commitment to sustainable tourism without slipping into

marketing talk or greenwashing? That is precisely the mission of La Compagnie Bourdonnante.

Through concrete action for bees, pollinators and biodiversity, this initiative allows tourist accommodation providers to highlight commitments that are visible, educational and easy to share with guests.

Why highlight your environmental commitments?

Sustainable tourism is no longer a niche trend. Guests now look for

establishments that share their values and that genuinely commit to

protecting the environment.

A clearly identified green approach allows you to:

A clearly stated green approach builds guest trust and strengthens your brand image. It meets the expectations of environmentally conscious customers and sets you apart from the competition. It also counts when an environmental label such as the Green Key (Clef Verte) is awarded or renewed.

Concrete actions are often the ones that stay with visitors the longest.

What is La Compagnie Bourdonnante?

Image source: L'abeille du VercorsNR8A5725©Bertrand CLAEYSSENLa Compagnie Bourdonnante, run under the Un Toit Pour Les Abeilles programme,

supports tourist accommodation professionals in their CSR approach

with solutions centred on preserving biodiversity.

The aim is simple: to enable tourist establishments to contribute actively to protecting pollinators and supporting French beekeeping, while raising visitor awareness of environmental issues.

This approach fits perfectly with the objectives of many eco-labels,

in particular the Green Key label, which encourages accommodation providers to put in place

concrete actions for the environment, biodiversity and sustainable

development.

Discover Un Toit Pour Les Abeilles

Why are bees essential to biodiversity?

Bees play a fundamental role in the balance of our ecosystems. Through their

pollination work, they help many plant species reproduce and contribute directly to preserving biodiversity.

According to experts, a large share of our food supply depends directly or

indirectly on the work of pollinators.

Yet bee and pollinating insect populations are now under threat from several factors:

• The loss of natural habitats
• The use of certain pesticides
• Climate change
• The standardisation of landscapes

Supporting action for bees is therefore a concrete way of protecting the environment while raising public awareness of these issues.

The benefits for your tourist accommodation

Setting up actions with La Compagnie Bourdonnante brings several advantages:

Your CSR approach becomes visible. Guests appreciate concrete initiatives, the kind they can see for themselves during their stay.

The guest experience gains too. A personalised, made-to-measure welcome gift makes the stay feel authentic, and the pollinator shelters add an educational side that speaks to young and old alike.

Your green commitment becomes easier to tell. The educational kits provided let you showcase the actions you take on your website, your social media, your welcome book or your other communication materials.

The local economy benefits as well. The programmes developed support the work of the hundred or so French beekeepers in the network, all committed to responsible practices.

The four actions call for different effort and setup : here is what each one gives guests to see.

Action	What guests see on site	What you show in the welcome book
Sponsor a hive	Jars of honey with your own label	Your hive, with a link to your beekeeper and their apiary
Install a Dorloteur d’Abeilles shelter	Wild bees that do not sting, watched up close	An educational feature and your work for pollinators
Offer honey and custom products	At breakfast, in the welcome gift or for sale	Your local products, orderable from the welcome book shop
Plant bee-friendly flowers	Outdoor areas in bloom that welcome pollinators	Your planting work and your action for local biodiversity

concrete actions to develop your CSR approach with La Compagnie Bourdonnante

1. Sponsor a hive and support French beekeepers

Through the Un Toit Pour Les Abeilles project, your establishment can sponsor a hive and play an active part in protecting honeybees.

This action helps sustain the French beekeeping sector while providing you with personalised jars of honey and a powerful way to communicate about your environmental commitment.

Sponsoring a hive is often an excellent first step for accommodation providers wishing to develop a responsible tourism approach.

2. Install a "Dorloteur d'Abeilles" (bee pampering box)

The Dorloteur d'Abeilles is a device designed to host certain species of wild bee. These bees are excellent pollinators, they do not sting and they do not produce honey.

Easy to install, it lets you observe these pollinators in their natural environment while helping to protect them.

For visitors, it makes an original educational feature that raises awareness of the importance of biodiversity among young and old alike.

3. Offer honey and personalised products

Offering local products is an excellent way to showcase your green

commitment.

La Compagnie Bourdonnante offers, among other things:

• Honey personalised with your establishment's branding
• Sweet grocery products
• Savoury grocery products from committed supply chains

These products, supplied by Beely and Farouche, can be served at breakfast, included in

welcome gifts or sold on site at your establishment.

4. Encourage biodiversity with nectar-rich planting

Nectar-rich planting creates welcoming spaces for bees and other pollinators.

As well as supporting local biodiversity, these features enhance your outdoor spaces and help create a more natural, pleasant environment for your visitors.

This action sits squarely within a sustainable accommodation approach.

Showcase your actions in your StyQR welcome book

If you use StyQR for your digital welcome book, you have an excellent platform for presenting your environmental commitments.

In particular, you can highlight:

• Your sponsored hive, with a link to information about your beekeeper and their apiary
• Your nectar-rich planting
• Your local products
• Your educational features
• Your actions in favour of biodiversity

This information allows guests to discover your approach as soon as they check in and strengthens the positive perception of your establishment.

And because you can create a Boutique within the welcome book, you can also offer your customers personalised honey, local products or bookings for additional services featuring these responsibly sourced products.

Add my green approach to my welcome book

An approach aligned with the Green Key criteria

The Green Key label rewards tourist establishments committed to a responsible environmental approach.

The criteria taken into account include:

Among other things, the label looks at how customers are made aware, at the preservation of biodiversity, at support for local initiatives and at concrete environmental actions actually put in place.

The solutions offered by La Compagnie Bourdonnante can therefore help strengthen your overall sustainability strategy and demonstrate your commitment to certification bodies. Today, guests are looking for more than simply a place to stay. They want an experience that matches their values and they want to support committed establishments.

With La Compagnie Bourdonnante, tourist accommodation providers have concrete

tools to act for biodiversity, support French beekeepers, raise visitor awareness and strengthen their CSR approach.

A simple, visible and authentic way to help develop more responsible tourism while adding value to your establishment.

Do get in touch with them

By email:

Marina Lopez-Guia marina@untoitpourlesabeilles.fr

Candice Guerineau candice@untoitpourlesabeilles

Or by phone: 06 16 42 07 43

Frequently asked questions

Is sponsoring a hive enough to get the Clef Verte label? No. The label looks at several areas, including guest awareness, biodiversity protection, support for local initiatives and concrete environmental action. A hive sponsorship counts towards that file, it does not replace it. Treat it as one piece of your approach, not a shortcut.

Do the bees in the Dorloteur d’Abeilles sting? No. The shelter hosts wild bees that neither sting nor produce honey, and they pollinate extremely well. That is what makes it easy to install where guests walk past and to watch from close up.

How do I promote my green commitments without greenwashing? By showing what exists and can be checked on site: a sponsored hive with the name of its beekeeper, bee-friendly planting, a pollinator shelter, products served at breakfast. The educational kits provided are there to tell that story on your website, your social accounts and your welcome book. A commitment guests can see for themselves needs no pleading.

Can I sell the personalised honey to my guests? Yes. The honey and the sweet or savoury grocery products can be served at breakfast, slipped into a welcome gift or sold on site. With the shop built into the StyQR welcome book, guests order from their own phone, including services that include these products.

Where should I start if I have done nothing yet? Hive sponsorship is the simplest way in: nothing to install, a French beekeeper supported, personalised honey jars to show. The Dorloteur d’Abeilles and bee-friendly planting come next, once you have outdoor space and want to turn it into something guests can learn from.