Screen-free socializing is getting a formal place on the hotel programming calendar. Loews Hotels & Co is launching Game On by Loews Hotels, a brandwide initiative rolling out November 9 that pairs classic tabletop games with food-and-beverage programming across its 27 U.S. properties through the end of the year.
The initiative is a direct play on the growing consumer appetite for intentional, unplugged socializing — and a tangible opportunity for hotel F&B operators to drive incremental revenue around curated experiences. Properties will execute the program through game libraries available on loan, hosted trivia nights, holiday tournaments, group gaming classes, and purpose-built food and beverage pairings designed to extend dwell time and deepen guest engagement.
Property-Level F&B Tie-Ins
The most operator-relevant details live at the property level. Loews Regency New York Hotel is partnering with @TheHausofMahj for a Bams & Bubbles mahjong evening on November 18, where light bites and specialty cocktails anchor a two-hour American Mahjong session. The hotel's Regency Bar & Grill will also offer custom mahjong-inspired cocktails for guests who miss the ticketed event. At Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Arizona, the Cascade Lounge is building a December menu around locally sourced bison specialties, paired with tabletop games and positioned against views of the Catalina Mountains — a model that ties regional sourcing directly to an experiential programming hook.
Loews Chicago Hotel will run holiday-themed trivia nights in its lobby bar throughout December, while Loews Miami Beach Hotel is activating giant lawn games — chess, Connect Four, cornhole, ping pong, and dominoes — on the Americana Lawn alongside a classic board game lending library. Live! by Loews in Arlington is leaning into its sports-adjacent positioning with oversized Jenga, Connect Four, and cornhole timed to the NFL season.
The Market Tailwind
The timing tracks with measurable category momentum. According to Fortune Business Insights, adults are the fastest-growing age segment in the global board games market, with the segment projected to grow at 12.03% annually from 2026 to 2034. For hospitality operators, that data point signals an audience already primed to engage with tabletop-centered programming — and willing to pay for curated social experiences that justify a hotel stay over a home gathering.
Kristie Goshow, Chief Commercial Officer at Loews Hotels & Co, framed the program around the enduring human appeal of play. "A humble board game can reveal more about the people we love, or the colleagues we travel with, than a year's worth of texts, video calls or emails," she said, adding that the holiday period is when the brand wants its properties to feel like places where "time slows down, laughter gets loud, and memories glow long after check-out."
Guests across the portfolio will also receive a conversation starter card at check-in — a low-cost touchpoint designed to prime social interaction and extend the program's reach beyond scheduled events into informal moments throughout the stay.
For hospitality operators tracking experiential F&B strategies, the Loews rollout illustrates how a single programming concept can be templated across a diverse portfolio while leaving room for each property to localize execution through its own culinary identity and venue assets. It also reflects broader restaurant and bar programming trends toward experience-led revenue, where the menu becomes one layer of a larger guest engagement stack rather than the sole draw.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
