Interview: Rami El-Dahshan, MD of No1 Lounges

Airport lounges used to be the preserve of airline frequent flyer schemes, with each airline operating its own – BA’s first Concorde Room opened in 1976.

Then, in 1998, the first independent lounge was opened by Plaza Premium. However, the big lounge bang didn’t happen until the 2010s when credit card providers realised that lounge access was a desirable benefit.

Lounge operators such as No1 responded, opening more lounges and launching new brands such as My Lounge (in 2014) and Clubrooms (in 2015). Club Aspire is also managed by No1, although the main Aspire brand is not.

Airport lounges became increasingly important as airport terminals became more crowded, especially once stricter security measures forced passengers to arrive earlier in case of delays.

Someone who has made the move from the airline lounge world to the independent lounge world is Rami El-Dahshan. Previously Head of Clubhouses at Virgin Atlantic, he is now Managing Director of No1 Lounges and its sub-brands.

The group has 15 lounges in the UK, growing to 17 by the end of the year. The new additions will be Jersey (article here) and a Clubrooms at Heathrow Terminal 3 (article here). The Club Aspire lounge in Terminal 3 will also be rebranded as a My Lounge.

I’ve known Rami for some time and thought it would be interesting to pull back the curtain on the lounge world and discuss his move, the independent lounge sector and what he has in store for us.

We covered a lot of ground including:

• The future of No1’s four lounge brands
• Managing overcrowding and capacity issues
• Catering to different types of customers
• …. and what you can expect from No1 this year and in the future

Moving from the airline lounge world to the independent sector

Rami joined No1 Lounges last year after managing the Clubhouse portfolio for Virgin Atlantic:

“It’s been a really big change from my past experience. It’s quite exciting to move from within the airline lounge world, where you are a core but very small part of a very large organization. You were also part of a £2,000 to £5,000 product [the cost of a business class flight] or a product that belongs to a very loyal group of people, your top tier elite members.

“There is a lot more of an affinity and a need for a certain signature within the airline world, where you are very much a small part of a large business. To go from that to a company that only does lounges means that there are significant culture changes.

“What I’m trying to do at No1 is bring the way airlines think about airline lounges into a third party lounge company. This means focusing on hospitality a lot more, focusing on F&B, trying to drive the design. Because you’re part of a smaller entity, you can bring change a lot quicker than you could in a large company that needs to think about its overall brand and the end-to-end customer journey. It’s been fun to have done an airline lounge and then moving on to a third party lounge provider.”

What’s changing at No1?

“Within No1 lounges, we’ve got several brands and we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how we dial up the differentiation. This includes ensuring that menus are not the same across each brand, ensuring that the way we greet our guests is different, ensuring that the way we sell and manage our volumes across those products is different.

“We have also really been improving and elevating our Clubrooms product which, if I’m honest, is a bit of a unknown entity. I would say, within the general loyalty and consumer community, people are surprised when they find it. We need to spend a lot more time thinking about how we add value to the a la carte dining style, the more spread out experience that you can get in Clubrooms.”

Managing overcrowding and lounge access cards

A big part of Rami’s business is accepting guests who receive lounge access via Priority Pass, DragonPass or other lounge access cards. A big criticism in the past few years – as travel rebounds and outgrows its pre-covid figures – is of lounge overcrowding.

“Going forward, as you will know as well as anyone, lounges are getting busier and busier. Heathrow and many other airports continue to break record numbers. So for us, our focus needs to be ensuring that lounges continues to have an ambience and energy that is luxurious for people.

“The number one complaint is overcrowding, as you said. The number two complaint is probably people not being allowed into the lounge. It’s almost like this mindset of ‘I want to be let in, but I don’t want anyone else to be let in’. There’s always going to be increased requirement for lounge space. We are embracing the pre-booking concept for cardholders, and we’re seeing that number continue to increase as a percentage of total bookings. Our number of pre-booked customers as a percentage is between 18% and 20%.

“I think if cardholders are doing more pre-booking we can plan our revenue management of those lounges and ultimately make the case for more expansion. We’re constantly looking for new spaces. We’re constantly on the lookout for spaces that can be repurposed as lounge. The Heathrow T2 lounge is a good example of that. Previously, I believe, it was office space. We are constantly talking to all the airports about how we can take on additional space.”

More differentiation, more personalisation

“I think cardholder traffic will continue to be the lifeblood of third party lounges, and we’re seeing that increase more and more. Having said that, are there ways that we can offer a consistent standard for those cardholder providers, but also offer an improved experience for those that are paying anywhere between our base rates in the mid £30s, right up to £60-£70 a head?

“Very often, we have to be all things to lots of different people. I always use this example – I was doing a shift once in the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow as crew, and there were three tables next to each other. On one table we had a honeymoon couple who arrived six hours before departure, and they wanted to drink all the cocktails and talk to all the staff. This was their once in a lifetime experience.

“They sat next to Phil who would travel every two weeks to LA. Phil knew us. We knew Phil. We knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted a bacon sandwich, a cup of coffee and to be left alone.

“The third table was a lady who was travelling for bereavement. One of her family had died, and she didn’t want to be flying, she didn’t want to be in the lounge. She just wanted to sit quietly.

“This is a regular occurrence within any airport lounge, right? How do you deal with three different customer types? We can’t say, you know, go and sit in the honeymoon section, please. We can’t say to the honeymoon couple that we’re going to charge extra because they’re getting through so much food and champagne. I think that the future for us is, how do we train up our staff to provide additional service to someone who’s bought something fantastic? How do we build an energy and atmosphere for those individuals, whilst ensuring that we are revenue managing and planning so that if we do have someone who’s purchased something absolutely fantastic, that we ensure the lounge has the right ambience for them?

“I’d really like to get to a place where we are able to offer £100, £200 guest experiences in the same shared space as someone who’s got a Priority Pass card. A lot of that will be to do with service style. A lot of that will be to do with the food and beverage, but a lot of that will be around the end-to-end experience that we can provide to guests, not even necessarily within lounges.

“I’d love us to start thinking about how we have a joined up approach with meet and assist or meet and greet services, transfer services. There’s a lot more we can do in terms of product building within a shared space with someone who’s not paid to enter the lounge.”

Club Aspire will be phased out

In terms of brands, No1 has Clubrooms, No1, My Lounge and then Club Aspire, which is a joint venture between No1 Lounges and Swissport. Confusingly, it shares a similar name to Aspire lounges which is operated entirely by Swissport. What’s happening there?

“We need to focus on our core three brands. As we continue to develop new spaces, or when leases come up or when the lounges are ready for a refresh, Club Aspire will be one that we wouldn’t necessarily think about continuing. It’s really hard to understand and interpret its brand identity, its name. With Aspire and Club Aspire out there, there’s a lot of noise with that naming combination. So longer term, yes, we will be phasing that brand out.”

Engaging first-time loungers

My Lounge was originally developed as a lower cost alternative to a No1 Lounge, with Clubrooms pitched above both. This model has been changing, as anyone who has seen the accomplished new My Lounge in Luton will know.

“What I don’t want us to do with our brands is good, better, best. What I want is to have each brand suited for different situations. If I was there with my family, I might use a My Lounge. If I’m going on a weekend away only with my wife, I might go into Clubrooms. So really, it’s situational for what people need.

“With My Lounge, the whole approach to the brand is about making it approachable. The percentage of people who we see in one of our lounges as a percentage of the overall usage of the airport is anywhere between 2% and 8%. There is still a huge volume of customers who either don’t want to use a lounge, or have no idea what an airport lounge is. When I talk to people outside the industry and say I work in airport lounges, the sort of questions I get are ‘What’s an airport lounge? Do you have to pay when you get in?’

“I think there’s a huge amount of work that the industry needs to do to help the first time users feel more comfortable in using a lounge. You can see that in some of our design styles. Our My Lounges have these big, expansive open windows so that you can see into the space as you approach it. That’s really intentional because we want customers to feel comfortable approaching the space. Sometimes lounges can feel a bit intimidating with one person stood on the door checking whether you’re allowed in or not. How do we make people go, ‘Oh, I can see people that look like me or are having the experience that I want in there.'”

Food and drink

“You know, I think the future of airport lounges is a la carte dining. There’s more space, it’s more relaxing. You have seen hospitality improving within the airport, even within the past 10-15 years. You see high street brands and you’re like ‘Oh, they’re really cool, and now they’re in Gatwick’, right? Airport lounges need to do a lot of work to ensure that they continue to offer a luxury experience within an airport.

“One of the things that we really focused on at Virgin Atlantic was the theatre of delivering food. One that really cut through was when we started doing picnic baskets for afternoon tea. We did a similar one for a Ploughman’s during the winter. The fun of delivering items to the table with something that people can discuss and take photos of worked, and it’s something that we’re certainly looking at.

“I’d love to, in the very near future, think about things like a thali or a bento box, a full eating experience that is more thoughtful. I think within a lounge environment, because we are getting through quite a lot of transactions, a lot of our consumers don’t understand the amount of time we put into menu curation. There’s a huge amount of work we need to do, but lounges don’t do a very good job of signposting that.

“So how do we show people through how we serve food that we are thinking about this stuff and that we are we are trying to continue to develop? I’d say it’s more about the way we present. You’ll see some really exciting stuff next season off the back of this theatre element.”

Same same but different

“What I would like to do and what I can see a real opportunity with is allowing each of the local lounges just to play a little bit. Some customers like consistency. They want to know that the burger or cookie that they have in Heathrow is the same as they have in New York. But actually, a lot of customers want something that reflects the locality of where they are. At the moment all our menus are consistent. If you go to a No1 lounge or My Lounge, they’re obviously different between each other but they are consistent across the brand. What I’d like to think about us doing is retaining consistency, but having a place for play, both in food and drink.

“We have some really talented people within our organisation who have real passion in F&B and who are on our frontline teams. We want to have that opportunity to say, ‘hey, Jude at Gatwick, why don’t you come up with a cocktail creation that you can spend time telling the rest of the team about, and they can pass those stories on’. Highlighting the skills that we have within the organization a bit more is something we’ll be doing.”

What can we expect from No1 in the future?

“Unique experiences are key and the obvious one is always down the F&B route. If you want personalisation, that’s always going to be the focus. In 2025 we will offer a wine tasting experience. We will have a cocktail experience. We want these self curated experiences to feel approachable. So if people do have time, they can do something together or they can go to the bar and have someone take them through that experience. It’s those self curated experiences we want to bring out a lot more for the average consumer, maybe as a additional luxury on top of our core product.

“We also see a lot of customers looking for privacy. We do have private rooms within our lounges which we have started selling as additional add-ons on our website and the uptake has been really significant. What we want to do is continue to leverage some of those private experiences.

“We also want to understand how we approach groups as well. For third party lounges, the way they work with groups is sometimes quite cautious. You’ve got quite a big stag do or hen do and they can be very boisterous. But actually, you know, we love looking after those guests that are off to do something amazing, as long as we can do the planning and we get a heads-up. We want to embrace those experiences within our lounges. I think the way forward is more of that sort of elevated experience for groups, more in terms of privacy, and more in terms of elevated and experiential F&B.”

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,500 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £290 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card which has a lower fee and, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.