The new concept responds to evolving traveller needs in the new normal, “enhancing the safe, premium, contactless airport journey,” according to Collinson. A recent Priority Pass survey indicated a sentiment to return to travel among its membership and the importance of a touchless experience – 71% of frequent flyers said they are ready to return to travel either immediately or within the next three-to-six months and 80% want more contactless services across the airport journey.
Available to all lounge access programmes including Priority Pass, Collinson says the platform “will bring back the pleasure of enjoying complimentary F&B service at the airport lounge”. To reduce potential contamination between guests, the majority of lounges now limit F&B options and some have completely remove self-serve buffets.
With Ready 2 Order, lounge visitors can scan a QR code or tap an NFC-enabled device on signage at each table or seat within the lounge, to see a lounge-specific menu and make their selection. The order is then delivered directly to the table, or collected at an assigned pick-up point, depending on the individual lounge. The platform is offered in collaboration with Grab, the airport e-commerce platform and largest marketplace for contactless order and pay at airport restaurants.
With frequent travellers seemingly eager to get back to business travel it’s up to industry leaders to “deliver new, innovative solutions that re-imagine the new normal and champion the safe and effective travel recovery,” says Andy Besant, director of travel experiences at Collinson. “When travellers know they can access a safe, premium, contactless experience inside the airport lounge, they will feel more confident about the journey and be more likely to return to travel as routes open up.”
The Priority Pass survey of 22,000 global travellers found that almost seven in ten travellers are willing to pay for access to an airport lounge where social distancing is maintained, and the majority of travellers (57%) plan to use their airport lounge access more than they did before the coronavirus outbreak.
As a turn-key, end-to-end digital solution, Ready 2 Order enables airport lounges to add and manage their own menus and provide a great experience to travellers. Along with elevating the safe and premium airport journey for travellers, it also offers additional benefits like reducing food waste and supporting social distancing.
Right now the two Mexico City lounges remain the sole locations where the Ready 2 Order system is live, but as it is rolled out to more Priority Pass lounges full details will be available on the Priority Pass website, while on individual lounge listings, those offering the concept will display the Ready 2 Order icon.
As the travel recovery continues to fluctuate, it’s a real challenge to monitor which airports are fully operational and responding to Covid-19. Collinson is seeking to help with its Global Travel Recovery Map, a free resource to provide a guide on the situation across 171 airports around the world. Specifically, it highlights which airports are offering inbound airport testing, monitors Covid rates (by country), details which airport lounges as part of the Global Priority Pass network are available, and monitors increases in flight numbers.
As we move further into travel recovery Collinson is starting to see a number of its closed lounges re-open. To ensure travellers are fully aware of which locations are available it has created a detailed listing of the current status of lounges. As the global situation is constantly evolving the information on this list is being updated on a weekly basis with the new listing being uploaded every Thursday. Here’s the current listing: Collinson open lounges
Collinson has revealed that its clients’ commerce platforms are seeing significant year-on-year variations in the habits of online shoppers in 2020 tracking with the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 outbreak. It says the substantial swing in consumer spending habits in 2020 highlights “the growing relevance of loyalty commerce platforms,” which it says “give travel and financial service providers a flexible and robust way to continually engage with consumers”.
The customer benefits and loyalty specialist currently supports over 25 online shopping portals where consumers can earn and spend loyalty currency linked to leading travel and financial services reward programmes.
James Berry, commercial director, of its newly launched Valuedynamx at Collinson business unit says loyalty commerce platforms are now seeing “a massive growth in relevance, especially for travel and financial service providers”. The coronavirus pandemic has caused what he describes as “a substantial swing” in consumer spending habits and he expects the effects of this “to ripple out for the next few years at a minimum”.