What do passengers really want?
Millennials love travelling and now it is more accessible than in the past years. According to IATA reports, it is forecasted that the number of air passengers will double over the next 20 years, creating undue demands on airports. Airports and their suppliers must be quick on their delivery towards increasing personalized customer experience. Airports are continuously more overcrowded hence the need for a haven of peace and tranquillity.
Passengers want access to quiet airport lounges.
Picture this, you have access to this lounge because you fly an airline in a business class for the first time because you want to avoid queuing and get a special experience. Instead of that, you must wait in long queues to get in and then again to get food, often poor-quality food, boring drinks, noisy conversations and no seats available. That isn’t exactly the VIP treatment you expected, is it?
Passengers want experiences and benefits.
Modern travellers crave to get more for their money. Nowadays, pax don’t just want to get from destination A to B, they want an incredible travel journey. Punta Cana Airport VIP lounge for example—designed a brand-new infinity swimming pool; it’s a great way to stand out from the crowd. First and business-class travellers or even paid-entry guests can take a swim before returning home, chances are they will have positive feedback about Punta Cana Airlines. That being said, airlines and airports have been challenged in the past few years to improve passenger experience by adding ancillary services, but the issue of overcrowded airport lounges remains.
Passengers do not want to wait.
As mentioned previously, there is another issue that is often mentioned in negative reviews from clients: long waiting queues.
Having to wait at the entrance of the lounge, then you have to wait in line to get your food and wait again to get a drink because there aren’t enough bartenders. A traveller wrote this review after visiting a lounge.
“Airport lounges have become as terrible as the terminals. Nothing but everyone on their phone, slow bartenders, noisy, utterly packed, messy tables, poor quality soup and cheese plates. It is not a special experience anymore. I remember way back when I walked into a lounge, and it was quiet, true open concept, great food to select from, fast open bar service, and since it wasn’t totally packed, you could actually hear when your flight was boarding.”
Even New York Times Journal exposed this issue here. As Anna-Maria Andriotis wrote in her article: airport lounges are a lot more inclusive than they were before. Consequently, airports are continuously working on improving their services to exceed the expectations of their customers.
VIP Club lounges should reward customers with personalized services that add value to the experience beyond just saved cash. This market prefers expedited checkouts, concierge services, beauty consultations, and other services that will create a longer-lasting impression than a simple 10% off. Loyal luxury customers want VIP treatment consistently – throughout desktop, mobile websites and apps from buying the airplane ticket to entering a lounge.
IEG’s AIMS mobile helps break up the queue by making the management of your exclusive VIP lounge environment easy to use. Upgrade your responsiveness to your customers and you will be able to move faster. Improve customer experience from entry in a lounge to boarding aircraft.
The efficient distribution of passengers in the lounge will help ease the flow and relieve crowded areas. Our app can forecast the number of people that come into the lounge and keep track of inventory levels at the same time to never be overcrowded again, running out of supplies or being understaffed. A perfect organization will be needed to accommodate all the people, especially during peak hours. Airport management should anticipate such rush hours and adjust accordingly with the correct number of front-desk agents, bartenders, food and drinks quantities.