Renovation of Emirates Lounge

Discuss about the Asset Management for Hospitality and Sustainability.

The number of passengers at the Airport is increasing day by day and therefore the importance of lounge facility is also increasing. In order to efficiently manage the increasing number of passengers there is need for strengthening the lounge infrastructure. It will also help in attracting more customer base.  

The rising competition in the airlines industry adds to the increasing importance of the airport lounge facilities by the airline companies.

Emirates airline strictly needs to renovate their Sydney lounge in order to align with the valuable and high mileage passengers. Presently, services and infrastructure at Sydney lounge of emirates are clumsy and needs renovation for better customer base and satisfaction of the customer. Whether any passenger is of business class or frequent flier, every passenger requires lounge facilities at its best. As the hospitality sector is rising at high pace, there is a need for airline companies to develop competency through good lounge services. Lounge facility of Emirates at Sydney also needs to look into developing a well-designed space for the passengers. There is a requirement of conveying a rare sense of comfort during the hectic alienating experiences of flights. Currently, the lounge facility of Emirates airline at Sydney is of average standard and is lacking new developments and therefore, it is expected that the lounge facility will run in loss if it will not renovate itself as per the new trends.

Thus, Emirates lounge in Sydney requires complete renovation for strengthening capacity, comfort and efficiency. The Emirates lounge needs to be divided in seven themes and each of it should offer passengers a specific experience. Currently, the lounge is not preferred by the customers as they find it not worth in terms of quality and comfort (Sydney Airport, 2016). 

Emirates lounge is missing the opportunity for expressing the some different and unique characteristics (Sydney Airport, 2016). On the other side, it is not at all a fun anymore to be at Emirates lounge in Sydney and it has become a big challenge to attract the passengers towards the monotonous ambiance while chilling on those weird couches (Sydney Airport, 2016). Though the lounge is running in a smooth manner but still, it is not unique, rather it looks all the more same like others (Airport-business, 2016). The new changes after renovation will help the passengers in disorienting travel stress and will make them feel valued (Airport-business, 2016). The services of airport lounge are playing an effective role in keeping the customer base and therefore it is a worth an investment to be made by airline companies in their infrastructure and now, it’s time for Emirates lounge in Sydney to be engaged in the battle to outdo competitors with the premium products (Sydney Airport, 2016).  The seven themes that could be chosen for enhancing the passenger’s experience can be luxury theme, family theme, cultural theme, lifestyle theme, mode Dutch theme and care theme. Every theme need to be characterized by the usage of specific material and design and should comprise of appropriate services, which should include; seating areas, food outlets and shops.

Hospitality and Sustainability

Renovation process should be undertaken only after the approval of the Sydney airport authorities. In addition, it is required on part of Emirates Airlines to present construction documentation and certificates in front of airport authorities.

The focus of renovation should be on the use of the sustainable materials for effective and sustainable growth of lounge facility (Häkkinen et al., 2012). For the purpose of renovation of airport lounge, Airline Company can use certified wood, LED lighting and motion sensors (Häkkinen et al., 2012). These products should be of certified sustainable materials which are not harmful to society and helps in sustainable growth (Häkkinen et al., 2012). Material for renovation should be user friendly and sustainable for adhering with the environmental concerns (Häkkinen et al., 2012) . Capacity at Emirates Sydney lounge needs to be enhanced by 30% for effective capacity and space management (Häkkinen et al., 2012).

For the purpose of flagship retail in travel during the renovation of the Emirate’s lounge, existence of Johnny Walker retail store will add a lot (Häkkinen et al., 2012). For more attractiveness and increasing the lounge customer base at Emirates lounge in Sydney, M&M retail shop, which is a shop having a  unique range of toys can be established (Häkkinen et al., 2012), along with Bulgari store and Gucci store. These stores enhance the brand value of lounge, as these are trusted quality brand stores (Häkkinen et al., 2012).

Process of refurbishment should be carried out in varied phases so that the Lounge is able to continue to give its services. (Häkkinen et al., 2012).Moreover, night hours should be chosen for renovation work and during that time, shops in the lounge arena should be half open (Häkkinen et al., 2012). Passengers should be allowed to use the services of the shops and stores in lounge arena and should be asked for temporary diversions (Häkkinen et al., 2012). For the convenience of the customers, lounge people should use signage for directions (Botta, 2005). The renovation process of the Emirates lounge needs to be made a part of the master plan of the lounge capacity management, with the purpose of improving the comfort level of the passengers (Botta, 2005)

Another unique feature that should be added to the renovation process is the idea of showing the kitchen concept to the customers. This process will enhance the interaction of the customers with the chefs (MDPI, 2012).  This focus will enhance the ungraded offerings of the airline company (MDPI, 2012). Through this service enhancement in the renovation process, guests at lounge will be able to indulge in the bistro services and will also be able to gain quick snacks (Jensen et al., 2013). Renovation enhancements should focus on having upgraded system of Wi-Fi services for enabling fast speed in lounge area. For the convenience of the guest, there should also be universal sockets deployed in the lounge (Jensen et al., 2013). The lounge mangers should be responsible for offering holistic experiences to the guest for enhancing customer base (Northwestern University, 2016). All these changes are mandatory for Emirates lounge at Sydney, as the condition of the lounge are lousy at present (Schiphol Group, 2014). Customers is one of the major stakeholders, so it is duty of the Emirates airlines to inform customers regarding the renovation taking place to minimize inconvenience to them. Stakeholders are vital assets of any organization as they can have significant influence on company’s operation. Major stakeholders of Emirates that needs to be consulted in renovation process are owners and investors. Through renovation, owners wish to achieve the long term value improvement. Thus, proper planning is required on part of the owners to derive benefit through renovation of lounge. The lounge manger also plays an important role as he or she is the person who has the control and can ensure that renovation process goes smoothly. He/she can assure that there are not causalities at site owing to renovation work.

Emirates Lounge Should Remain Open During the Refurbishment Process

The airport should aim to establish sufficient labels of profitability and financial stability for absorbing the impact of the economic fluctuations and events of risk by achieving operating profit of 10% or more. In the challenging times, it is important to know that the financial strength of the Emirates airline is secure. In the past years, Emirates airline has successfully built strong principle of finance and integrity (Lounges & Gates, 2015). Emirates airline will be required to spend 50 million dollars for renovating the lounge. Investment can be funded from the development funds and by increasing the membership rates. Emirates airline run a major piece of aviation infrastructure as a part of its international, interconnected transport network, which sustains global mobility and unites the people across the national boundaries (Lounges & Gates, 2015). Emirates are responsible towards corporate stakeholders who seek for open, fair and balanced dialogues with the stakeholders and interest groups. In addition to it, long term protection of the environment is also paramount (Lounges & Gates, 2015).  The goal of the renovation is to create value for the customers, employees and host regions. Emirates needs to pay attention to the needs and wishes of the passengers and in the coming time for developing a sustainable lounge facility (Lounges & Gates, 2015). The material for renovation of the Emirates lounge needs to be sustainable and environment friendly to maintain the sustainability level (Lounges & Gates, 2015).

Apart from the concept of curtailing cost with the method of layoff and retiring plans, Emirates airline should think of refreshing the product so that they can become more competitive in the market. For having a sustainable development project, Emirates needs to focus on the current trends and developments in the aviation market (Peterson, 2015).

Facilities at airport lounges can be considered as the serenity, which is away from the crowded and noisy areas of the airport (Ricondo & Associates, 2010) . Some airport lounges offer free snacks and workstation services for attracting more customers and members on their lounge (Ricondo & Associates, 2010). Such lounges are membership clubs, which have the main aim of having domain of the elite status fliers. These are mainly premium ticket holders or the ones having branded credit cards (Ricondo & Associates, 2010). The new regular membership for an individual can cost around 500 dollars (Ricondo & Associates, 2010).

Following the commitment for sustainable development, Emirates is expected to develop an action place for implementing the initiatives. Here are some challenges (Aéroports de Montréal, 2015):

Social	Environmental	Economic
Developing talent and skills	Enhancing the energy efficiency and reducing the green house effects	Enhancing the land access to airport lounge
Enhancing the quality of life at lounge	Reduction or resource consumption and managing the waste	Contribution towards economic development

Financial Stability and Bonding Capacity

In line with the sustainability constraint, green building strategies are required to be incorporated throughout the entire renovation for saving energy, reducing the waste and providing a healthier and less stressful travel experience. An innovative displacement ventilation system will deliver the superior quality of air throughout the terminal while using 20% less energy than the conventional system. Water efficient fixture should support the reclaimed water plant in reducing the water usage by 40%.

New trends in Hospitality Management:

The revitalization of the airport lounge is considered as the sign that the business class travel is going to boom in the coming time with varied series of top-notch lounges. Having an extra ordinary lounge services have become the popular trend for small and large carriers (Ricondo & Associates, 2010).  Facility of lounge is considered as an important facility for the passengers and for the high value customers, who are very important for any airline company to attract and retain, as it enhances the competency level (Häkkinen et al., 2012). As the facility of having an effective and quality lounge is getting popular, there are certain trends that should be noted before any commencing the renovation of a lounge. Some of the latest trends have been discussed below (Häkkinen et al., 2012):

Limited Access: Because of the certain level in the alliances at global level, access to lounge facility is offered to the passengers of international flights only (Häkkinen et al., 2012).  However, for capturing the experiences, many of airline companies, categorizes such customers differently for better services (Häkkinen et al., 2012). For example, Qatar airways is known for limiting the business lounge for people who are actually flying in the cabins and not for the travelers having the status of one world (Churchill, 2016). Qatar airlines have also been in news for offering different experience to the premium passengers and ensuring the effective space for such passengers (Churchill, 2016).

Feeling of Residence: The quality lounge facilities of Cathay Pacific are considered for offering warm and residential feeling to the executive customers. In addition to it, they pay more attention to soft couches, carpets and lighting effects in lounge. They are known to offer residential feeling to the passengers for being competitive in the market (Nagy, 2016)

More emphasis on Food and Beverage: Lounge facilities of Cathay have successfully hit the mark of the quality food and drinks. Lounge offers full sit down meals to its customers and the main attraction is the noodle bar of Cathay. Noodle bar is the extension of the Hong Kong heritage food (Nagy, 2016).

Virgin Atlantic is known for its best business class lounge facility in the whole world. This lounge focuses on additional services in lounge like, spa, hair salon and restaurant. These services clearly mark its remarkable presence in lounge facility and it has been considered as a top class brand in lounge facilities (Nagy, 2016). Lounge facilities in New York have opened the new clubhouse in the terminal two of the airport (Ricondo & Associates, 2010).

Enhanced demands of the business travelers and rapid advancement in the technology sector will surely give rise to the new breed of personalized, ultra high technology airport lounges in the coming years. The coming time will feature highly interactive and personalized environment wherein the business travelers can seamlessly integrate the business and the personal lives in the journey, from lounge arrival to the boarding on the plane. 

References

Aéroports de Montréal, 2015. Sustainable development. [Online] Available at: https://www.admtl.com/en/adm/communities/sustainable-development.

Airport-business, 2016. Amsterdam Schiphol transforming Lounge 2 with innovative retail and F&B offer. [Online] Available at: https://www.airport-business.com/2016/03/amsterdam-schiphol-transforming-lounge-2-commercial-offer/.

Botta, M., 2005. Towards Sustainable Renovation: Three research projects. DiVa-Portal.

Churchill, D., 2016. Analysis: airport lounges. [Online] Available at: https://buyingbusinesstravel.com/feature/0525961-analysis-airport-lounges.

Häkkinen, T. et al., 2012. Methods and concepts for sustainable renovation of buildings. VTT Technical Research Centre Ltd.

Jensen, P.A. et al., 2013. Sustainability Evaluation of Retrofitting and Renovation of Buildings in Early Stages. In Proceedings of 7th Nordic Conference on Construction Economics and Organisation., 2013. Akademika forlag.

Lounges & Gates, 2015. US airlines’ multi-million dollar investments highlight value of premium passenger loyalty. [Online] Available at: https://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2015/05/us-airlines-go-head-to-head-in-ground-based-battle-for-loyalty/.

MDPI, 2012. Sustainability. MDPI.

Nagy, C., 2016. 3 Ways of Rethinking the Premium Airport Lounge. [Online] Available at: https://skift.com/2016/05/04/3-ways-of-rethinking-the-premium-airport-lounge/.

Northwestern University, 2016. Sustainable Building and Renovation Policy. [Online] Available at: https://www.northwestern.edu/fm/about/policies/docs/NU%20Sustainable%20Building%20and%20Renovation%20Policy.pdf [Accessed 17 August 2016].

Peterson, B., 2015. NYC Airport Lounges Are Finally Improving. [Online] Available at: https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-12-29/nyc-airport-lounges-are-finally-improving.

Ricondo & Associates, 2010. Sustainable Airport Construction Practices. Federal Aviaion Department.

Schiphol Group, 2014. Schiphol launches renovation of Departure Lounge 2: Airport investing in quality and passenger comfort. [Online] Available at: https://www.schiphol.nl/SchipholGroup1/NieuwsPers/Persbericht/SchipholLaunchesRenovationOfDepartureLounge2AirportInvestingIn
QualityAndPassengerComfort.htm.

Sydney Airport, 2016. Emirates Lounge | T1 International | Sydney Airport. [Online] Available at: https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/find/service-categories/service-listing/service-detail.aspx?cat=%7B0892E3E2-EB73-47B0-AFD5-8C36F5F0A3EA%7D&ser=%7B9F3792B7-C0F4-43BF-B106-4E01CBAF77E7%7D.