Review: The Virgin Red Room experience at the AO Arena, Manchester

The Virgin Red Room is a private suite of 16 seats at the AO Arena in Manchester and is bookable with Virgin Points for selected shows.

We’ve often said that the Red Room is one of the more interesting ways of redeeming Virgin Points, but we had yet to visit it ourselves. That was until Virgin Red invited me to experience the Red Room at a Peter Kay show.

Arriving at the AO Arena

Unlike big London arenas like the O2 and Wembley, the AO Arena is in the heart of the city centre, next to Manchester’s Victoria station and a short walk away from Manchester’s main shopping area. There are a bunch of hotels within a 15-minute walk, including the Crowne Plaza, a Hotel Indigo (IHG), a Park Inn by Radisson, a Travelodge, and a Hampton by Hilton.

Red Room tickets also mean you get one free parking space in the Arena’s car park. The car park has a VIP parking area which is close to the VIP Suite entrance and also close to the entrance / exit which makes for a quick getaway at the end of the event.

Ahead of the show you are issued with a VIP ticket and lanyard which you need to get into the arena:

To access the Red Room, and any of the other suites in the AO Arena, Red Room ticketholders need to use the VIP entrance located via a footbridge above Victoria station.

It’s still quite a busy entrance, as general ticketholders can access this way too. Once you’ve gone through the bafflingly ad-hoc security checks (especially surprising given the tragic events at the arena a few years ago), the entrance to the VIP suites is easy to find and there were no queues.

My first impression of the entrance to the suite area was that it is far better than the O2 arena in London. It felt smaller and more intimate and once we had our tickets checked, we were immediately handed a glass of champagne.

There’s a small bar area, with pleasant seating and some eye-catching artwork, where you are asked to wait before a host guides you to the correct box.

The Red Room is the closest box to the VIP bar and requires a short trot across the busy stream of general ticketholders queuing for access to the main arena. Once inside, the suite is very calm and spacious.

What’s the Red Room like?

A bit mad to be honest, but in a good way. You don’t get the quiet branding found in Marriott Bonvoy’s O2 suite. It is very, well, er, red and screams all things Virgin.

There’s a wall of memorabilia from Virgin brands both current and long-forgotten (anyone remember Virgin Cola?) and the facing wall is all glittery, reflective squares. Whilst far from subtle (rarely a word associated with Virgin anyway), the Virgin Red Room is a lot of fun and very much sets the tone for a fun-filled night.

Along the back of the suite is the bar and hot plates for food. The Red Room is staffed by at least one person throughout who can serve drinks and food.

Coke, lemonade, juice, water & tea and coffee are included in the (points) price of your Virgin Red Room ticket. All other refreshments, including food and alcohol, are available for purchase in the suite.

We had stuffed crust pizza which I really enjoyed, and thought was a decent standard for ‘venue food’. Pizzas are from £18, and you can also get items like chicken kebabs (£12) and poke bowls (£12).

There’s a bathroom situated at the back of the suite, along with a cloakroom – an essential for rainy Manchester.

The Virgin Red Room show experience

The front of the suite has three short rows of tiered seats, directly facing the stage. The view is really good in any of these seats. You can see the stage very clearly and the rest of the arena too, so if the stage set up included a runway, this would be clearly visible.

There’s a wooden bar with four bar stools situated in the suite itself which faces out to the arena stage. The benefit of this section is that you can keep hold of your glasses when sitting here – if you are in the main seating area, you have to swap for plastic glasses. I personally prefered the main seating section, as I found the chairs more comfortable, but the view was great in both.

How to get access to the Virgin Red Room

If you have a pot of Virgin Points, it’s a very straightforward process to buy tickets for shows at the AO Arena with Red Room access.

First of all, you need to be a Virgin Red member and to download the Virgin Red app. If you are not already a Virgin Red member, you can sign up via this link. Once you have registered and downloaded the app, you can link your Virgin Flying Club account so that you can spend your existing Virgin Points via Virgin Red.

AO Arena tickets are listed under ‘Live events’ in the ‘Spend’ section on the Virgin Red app. Here are some of the events currently available with Red Room access:

• Disney on Ice – 20,000 to 30,000 Virgin Points for two
• Hits Radio Live – 40,000 Virgin Points for two
• Donny Osmond – 40,000 Virgin Points for two
• Fairytale of New York – 20,000 Virgin Points for two
• Shagged, Married, Annoyed – 20,000 Virgin Points for two
• Ice Cube – 50,000 Virgin Points for two
• Maneskin – 30,000 Virgin Points for two
• Tom Jones – 60,000 Virgin Points for two
• Madness – 35,000 Virgin Points for two
• Bring Me The Horizon – 30,000 Virgin Points for two
• Strictly Come Dancing Live – 45,000 Virgin Points for two
• Peter Kay – 60,000 Virgin Points for two
• Shreya Ghoshal – 25,000 Virgin Points for two
• The 1975 – 35,000 Virgin Points for two
• Hot Wheels Monster Trucks – 20,000 to 30,000 Virgin Points for two

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my night in the Red Room and found the stage view better than some other suites I’ve experienced. The service was great throughout and the decent food (albeit chargeable) and drink made for a fun night.

For the right event, I would consider it a good use of Virgin Points, especially considering the easy access, free parking and Red Room vibe.

Many thanks to Caitlin at Virgin Red and One Green Bean for organising the trip to Manchester and inviting Head for Points along.

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How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (October 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to up to 80,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 80,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 8 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 22nd October 2024, the bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to up to 40,000 Membership Rewards points, worth 40,000 Virgin Points. You will receive 4 points per £1 spent for the first three months, on up to £10,000 of spending. The card is FREE for your first year. Click here to read our full card review. Click here to apply.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points. 

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)