COVER STORY
FAMILY
TIME
LOEWS HOTELS— THE COMPANY THAT TISCH BUILT.
By DAVID EISEN
Success at Loews Hotels has been spellbinding. In the spring of 1996, the hotel company partnered with Universal Studios to build hotels as part of a $ 2.6-billion expansion of Universal Studios Florida. Three years later, Loews Portofino Bay in Orlando opened, the first in a run of Loews-developed properties in collaboration with Universal.
Then, things got Harry. In 2007, Universal Studios announced a deal to create The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, having bested The Walt Disney Company to secure exclusive theme park rights through a partnership with Warner Bros. and J. K. Rowling, the author of the wildly popular book series, which has sold more than 600 million copies— and counting— worldwide. The attraction, which opened in 2010 and now spans three Universal theme parks, was an immediate hit: park attendance jumped 36 %.
Muggles, it turns out, need a place to stay. Loews Hotels now has 11 hotels and 11,000 guestrooms as part of its Universal collab, having opened three since January 2025, its most recent Universal Helios Grand Hotel, a Loews Hotel. The serendipity of Harry Potter alighting from its broomstick in Universal Orlando is not lost on Loews— especially on Alex Tisch, the president & CEO of Loews Hotels & Co, who succeeded his cousin and longtime chief of Loews Hotels, Jonathan Tisch, in 2023.“ It’ s funny, Jon would say,‘ When I go to bed at night, I’ m thankful for three things: my kids, my wife and Harry Potter.’” He didn’ t specify in which order.
WHAT’ S IN A NAME The Tisch name draws a lot of water— especially in New York, where Jonathan Tisch’ s side of the family is a part owner in the New York Giants. It also owns one of the preeminent hotels in the city, Loews Regency New York, under Loews Hotels & Co, which is a subsidiary of Loews Corporation, a conglomerate run by the Tisch family.
Like the hotel and football team, Loews Corporation is a New York story. Its roots
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