Annual Gathering hospitality suite

The Annual Gathering of American Mensa traditionally has a large hospitality suite which serves as a central gathering place for members when they are not attending lectures or other events. American Regional Gatherings also usually have such a location, but this is not traditional for gatherings in most other countries, where such places as hotel lounges serve the "gathering and socialization" function without Mensa-provided refreshments.

A variety of approaches have been taken for hospitality; while the US AG hospitality is commonly in the hotel ballroom, in past years (and currently in many RGs) it was sometimes in suites of normal-size hotel rooms, sometimes divided between a number of rooms. There was traditionally both a smoking and a nonsmoking hospitality room, but with smoking increasingly banned inside hotels now, the smoking hospitality is usually outdoors at present. At times, either the smoking hospitality or all of hospitality has been brought outside into tents.

The food at hospitality has also varied greatly, from copious quantities of meal-style foods letting attendees get all their nourishment from the AG without ever leaving, to small amounts of dry snacks. Increasingly restrictive policies forced by hotels, hotel-worker unions, local health departments, and lawyers fearing liability concerns have led to a general reduction in hospitality food in recent years.