How Lavazza Turned a Coffee Program Into a US Open Moment
For the run of the US Open, Lavazza is turning its year-round coffee program at a New York hotel into a full experiential moment, complete with an official coffee created for the tournament. It's a sharp example of how a beverage partnership becomes something guests remember, and a lesson in the intersection of hospitality, sport, and Italian coffee culture.
The everyday amenity, reimagined for a moment
At a hotel in New York, Lavazza coffee is served year-round, part of the property's food and beverage program. What's interesting for a hotelier is what happens when a property takes that steady relationship and builds a moment on top of it.
As the Official Coffee of the US Open®, Lavazza is bringing the energy of New York's biggest tennis event off the court and into the hotel. From Fan Week through the tournament, running August 23rd to September 13th, the year-round partnership comes alive as a limited-time activation that carries the excitement of the Open directly to hotel guests. The everyday cup becomes an event.
A drink built for the occasion
At the center of it is the Caffè Emiliano, the specialty coffee of this year's US Open® by Lavazza. It's a refreshing cold brew that blends rich coffee with Alchermes, a traditional Italian liqueur, and mascarpone mousse, a drink designed to feel like summer in New York rather than a standard cold coffee. The Caffè Emiliano contains alcohol.
Available for a limited time, the Caffè Emiliano gives guests a reason to seek out the experience rather than stumble into it. That's the quiet genius of a special drink tied to a moment. It's scarce, it's specific, and it belongs to this event and this season alone.
The details that turn a drink into a scene
What makes the activation worth studying is how completely it's staged. This isn't a sign by the coffee machine. It's a full sensory environment.
A branded US Open x Lavazza coffee cart sits on the hotel's outdoor terrace, with views of the Empire State Building as the backdrop. Guests sip from custom co-branded mugs, rest their drinks on tennis court-inspired coasters, and find Lavazza blue tennis ball beverage accessories, a Lavazza-branded umbrella, and custom postcards throughout. Tabletop menu signage and in-room digital displays carry the story into the guest room itself. Every touchpoint reinforces the same idea, so a guest doesn't just have a coffee. They step into a moment.
Why this is the model worth noticing
The activation is designed to celebrate the intersection of hospitality, sport, and Italian coffee culture, three of Lavazza's core pillars, and that convergence is exactly what makes it work.
For a luxury property, the lesson runs deeper than tennis. A beverage partner delivers value every single day through the quality of the cup. But the partnerships that create real distinction are the ones a property can activate around a cultural moment, turning a familiar amenity into an experience guests photograph, remember, and associate with the stay. This New York property didn't add a new amenity for the US Open. It took the one it already had and made it an event.
What this means for luxury properties
The takeaway is about how operators think about their partners. The strongest partnerships aren't just reliable. They're activatable, ready to be shaped around a season, an event, or a cultural moment that matters to guests.
Lavazza's US Open activation at a New York hotel is a clean example of that thinking in practice. A year-round coffee program became a limited-time experience with its own official coffee, its own setting, and its own sense of occasion. For any property wondering how to get more from the partners it already works with, that's the question worth carrying forward: not what else can we add, but what can we make a moment of.
