Collinson – owner of airport lounge provider Priority Pass – is piloting a new service allowing lounge guests to order complimentary food and drink from their mobile.
The ‘Ready 2 Order’ service works by allowing visitors to scan a QR code or tap an NFC-enabled device on signage within the lounge, to see a lounge-specific menu. They can then place their order and have it delivered directly to their table (or to an assigned pick-up point, depending on the individual lounge).
The initiative is launching at two Grand Lounge Elite airport lounges at Mexico City International, and is expected to roll out to selected airports in the UK, India, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the USA this month.
The service will be available to all lounge visitors regardless of how they are accessing the facility.
A recent Priority Pass survey revealed that while 71 per cent of frequent flyers “are ready to return to travel either immediately or within the next three to six months”, 80 per cent want more contactless service across the airport journey.
Collinson also said that the Ready 2 Order service would also reduce food waste and support social distancing, “by removing the necessity of a dedicated buffet area to increase seating areas”.
The service is launching in collaboration with Collinson’s existing partnership with Grab, an e-commerce platform which enables contactless ordering and payment at airport restaurants.
A list of participating lounges will be updated here as they come online, and individual lounge listings will display a Ready 2 Order icon where they offer the service.
Commenting on the news Rodolfo Salgado Leyva, CEO at The Grand Lounge Elite, said:
“The unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic have refocused and strengthened our commitment to continue to provide our lounge visitors a comfortable, safe, first-class experience.
“Ready 2 Order represents an opportunity for us to innovate and leverage cutting-edge technologies to do things even better than before; so visitors can enjoy our delicious selection of complimentary food and beverages in a more self-managed, digital, contactless way.
“We’re proud to support Collinson and Grab to test-run this exciting solution in our award-winning lounges at one of the most important airports in Latin America.”
The Ready 2 Order service is the latest Collinson initiative to assist travel in the Covid-19 era. In August the group announced it had built two testing facilities at Heathrow airport, with a view to them being used (with government approval) to enable travellers to be released early from quarantine restrictions.
Collinson and Swissport Covid-19 facility ready for arrivals at Heathrow
