Dubai: Ordinary to affluent travellers are increasingly using upscale airport lounges, once the exclusive domain of frequent-flyer business travellers.
Soukalin Ghosh, business manager for the Middle East and North Africa at Priority Pass, said in the last 18 months his company recorded a 25 per cent spike in non-business travellers using private airport lounges. A greater segment of travellers are seeking to escape the bedlam of flight delays, crowded waiting and departure areas.
"Apart from business class, there is a more affluent class visiting lounges," Ghosh told Gulf News. "The trend has prompted lounges to [create] different zones, this is the way forward."
Some lounges licensed by Priority Pass to serve its millions of global members have partitioned off "quiet zones where you can work" while also providing "another zone for family with Xboxes and Playstations," Ghosh said. "Families can also watch movies."
Founded in 1992 with 55 lounges globally, Priority Pass operates more than 600 lounges at 300 airports in more than 100 countries. "Lounges have started to realise that there is a target market other than the business traveller," Ghosh said.
That said, business travellers are also signing in to private lounges more than before, he said, given cutbacks in the global corporate community in air travel costs resulting in more professionals flying in economy class. "Companies in the last two years have downgraded their staff flying business class," said Ghosh. "Everyone is flying economy."
Good tool
Lounges are now a "good tool for employees to relax before a flight," he said. The surge in demand has led to the addition of 82 new airport lounges in 2010 around the world to the Priority Pass programme.
Six new lounges have been added in the Middle East at airports in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Jeddah and Riyadh, said Ghosh. A recent global survey of Priority Pass members rankedDubai International Airport as the third best in the world behind Singapore and Hong Kong.
The Dubai lounge offers services to members such as shower facilities, television, wi-fi, fax, flight monitors and refreshments and separate enclosed smoking facilities away from the main lounge. There is a maximum five-hour stay in the lounge. Two additional lounges are offered at Dubai International Airport by Marhaba.
Ghosh said airport lounges in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are also witnessing a surge in member use.
Jonathan French, head of brand at Priority Pass, said with new demand by different clientele, it is working "ensure we react to shifting patterns of air travel and ensure we have lounges where our members need them".
Eight new lounges in China were added for a new total of 52; 11 in India for a total of 26 lounges and a further eight lounges in Brazil which now boasts 17. Several new lounges were added in the UK, including The Escape Lounge at Manchester, the No 1 Stansted Lounge and also lounges through new partner airline Flybe.
New additions this month include the British Airways Galleries Lounge at Washington Dulles, the International Lounge in Las Vegas, and a first lounge for the programme in New Zealand at Wellington.
Coverage
"With more lounges, more lounge visits and more members than ever before," said French. "We will continue to try to ensure the maximum possible lounge coverage so that our members will always have a lounge available wherever they travel."
With increased demand, however, comes the challenge of not overselling the lounge service at the risk of filling the spaces to capacity and reducing the feeling of exclusivity and space. "We have to keep a fine balance," Ghosh said.
"People don't want to go to a lounge with screaming people in it. Keeping that balance is crucial for us."
Last September, holiday add-on firm TripExtras reported that its bookings by travellers for airport lounges compared to the year before had increased by 100 per cent.
"Even though it may be thought of as a luxury travel service, our lounge bookings are stronger than ever," said James Berry, Director of TripExtras, in a statement. Berry said free refreshments and food served in lounges as part of the booking or membership cost was "attracting very savvy travellers".
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