The priority pass is very much looking to the future in a bid to maintain its number one position as the largest privately owned company offering airport lounge access programmes. Having launched some 20 years ago with 50 lounges it has now grown to over 600 lounges in 300 cities around the globe, with headquarters in the UK and regional offices in the United States & the Asia Pacific region. As airports become more congested and time management more important, lounge access is becoming a more crucial aspect of the travel experience.

At the recent Business Travel Show ‘Priority Pass’ showcased a ‘Concept lounge of the future’ for 2030. This new paradigm of travel will adapt to new technologies, take the lounge luxuries of today as the norm and create a seamless airport experience. The concept lounge is an innovative and clever way for the Priority Pass team to say to its loyal customers and audiences that ‘they are keeping pace with new technologies and making sure they understand and react to the changing needs and trends of the next generation of business travellers’.

Errol McGlothan, General Manager of Priority Pass said ‘as travel budgets come under intense pressure it will be increasingly important to consider how professionals can be more efficient with their travel time. However, far from being just a work-focused environment, airport lounges of the future will better accommodate both working and personal needs to offer enhanced value to business travellers’.

Overwhelmingly, the ‘pass’ product is directed at business travellers who need to use their time efficiently, with access to office facilities and to relax and reinvigorate before arriving at their destination. This does not ignore the regular leisure traveller who has the ability to be constantly on the move, as the concept lounge points to with highly personalised extras such as work-life pods, spas and holographic gyms. And the Priority Pass provides frequent travellers with airport lounge access, irrespective of their class of travel, airline used or existing membership in an airline loyalty programme.

As pioneers of the lounge access scheme, Priority Pass has built a diverse portfolio of strategic partnerships that have attracted many of the company’s global pass users. This includes alliances within the banking, corporate and telecoms sectors, with continued R & D towards niche markets. One such segment is for’ meeting professionals’ who attend conferences and meetings all over the world and need to hit the floor running as soon as their aircraft touches down.

Dr Mamdouh G Salameh is an International Oil Economist and Consultant for the World Bank on oil and energy and is regularly invited to lecture at conferences across the globe, he commented ‘the Priority Pass gives access to a restful environment, offering useful facilities for international travellers and gives me the ideal preparation time before arriving at the conference centre(s)’.

McGlothan ‘believes that the pass product is excellent, but we continually try to improve our operations hence having a 24/7 customer support number’; clearly Priority Pass intend to maintain their number one position and are focussed on taking advantage of emerging markets such as the BRIC countries, Africa and Asia.

It seems that the ‘Priority Pass’ have already envisioned their bright future!

For more information go to http://www.prioritypass.com