Priority Pass adds “resort fee” model to two lounges

On last week’s Frequent Miler on the Air, we noted that the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse is now a part of Priority Pass, but the news isn’t as good as it sounds: a visit costs 1 Priority Pass visit plus a $35 top-up fee. On the show, we lamented this change and wondered aloud how long it would be until other lounge operators began asking for top-up fees. As it turns out, our fears had already been realized: as reported by Earnitback, there is also now a top up fee at Clubrooms at London Heathrow Terminal 3.

The Priority Pass app and website notes that Clubrooms Heathrow Terminal 3 is subject to an additional fee, but noes not note what the additional fee is.

Also of note is that in the Priority Pass app, it notes that Club Aspire is currently closed and as such it recommends pre-booking space if you want to visit No1 Lounge because they anticipate increased traffic at that lounge.

As pointed out by Earnitback, the No1 Lounges website recommends booking space to be guaranteed entry at either lounge with a Priority Pass. As you can see in the screen shot above, the fee for booking the No1 Lounge is £6 and the fee for booking Clubrooms is £15. I should note that the No1 Lounges site also says this about paying for a reservation:

The reservation fee is an additional charge, which secures a place for you in the lounge. The visit itself will be processed through your lounge membership card. The card must be valid on the day of your visit and should be presented at reception on arrival. If, under the terms of your membership, you have an allowance of free visits, or your visits are paid for through your associated bank account, these will also be deducted in the normal way.

I read that to mean that the reservation fee is in addition to the cost of the visit itself. As you can see above, the reservation fee at Clubrooms is £15, which is what Earnitback reports as the additional fee. However, I’m not totally sure about that. As I read the above paragraph, I think that the £15 would be to secure a reservation, but then you’d still need to “pay” 1 Priority Pass visit plus whatever “additional fee” may be. The Priority Pass app and website say:

Access to this lounge is available to Cardholders using a standard visit allocation and an additional upgrade fee payable directly to the lounge at time of entry.

It doesn’t say on the Priority Pass site whether that additional fee is £15 or whether the £15 fee to reserve space would be in lieu of a top-up fee.

Any way you slice it, this is a worrying trend. As I said on the podcast, I can’t imagine it will be long before more lounge operators want to chare more for each visit. I’ve enjoyed Priority Pass many times abroad, but there are very few Priority Pass lounges that I would have paid to visit. A Priority Pass membership is already of questionable value to the average US-based traveler since there are relatively few participating lounges in the United States. If more and more lounges begin adopting this “resort fee” model, then Priority Pass will become nothing more than a coupon. Personally, I can’t imagine I would use that type of coupon very often and I would value it very little when evaluating a credit card that offers it if that is what it becomes.

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