LOUNGE OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2013

Recognizing the world’s best in class airport VIP lounges

Press Pack

www.prioritypass.com

Bangkok airport lounge voted best in Asia Pacific in Priority Pass Lounge of the Year Awards 24th June 2013 – The Louis’ Tavern CIP First Class Lounge, at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport has been voted the best airport lounge in the Asia Pacific region. Based in the airport’s International Terminal on Concourse G, and catering for up to 320 travelers per day, the lounge was the highest ranked in the Asia Pacific region by members of the Priority Pass global lounge access program – the largest of its kind in the world. Nearly 60,000 Priority Pass members voted based on their experiences of the program’s lounges globally and against a set of criteria for lounge quality including refreshments, staff, business facilities and overall ambience. Now in their ninth year, the awards recognize excellence within Priority Pass’s network of over 600 partner-operated lounges worldwide. Recently upgraded, the Louis’ Tavern CIP First Class Lounge caters for a mixture of business and leisure travelers. The lounge is spacious, well designed and equipped to a very high standard. Laksameekan Ingkakul from the Louis’ Tavern CIP First Class Lounge said: “Winning this award means the world to us as it shows that our hard work is paying off. It motivates our employees to continue striving to be the best in this field.

“The award affirms our loyal guests’ decision to use our lounge and lets potential guests know that our lounge is second to none in this region.

“We believe that our lounge has been voted Asia Pacific regional winner because of its contemporary design – spacious and quite different to the typical airport lounge. It is a breath of fresh air for travelers. We also believe that our Thai hospitality has added to this, providing a gracious service in the lounge. And the variety of our food is second to none.”

The overall global award went to the Pau Casals VIP lounge at Barcelona’s El Prat airport in Spain.

Global Marketing Director for Priority Pass Stephen Simpson said: "With so many of our members taking part, Lounge of the Year provides the most comprehensive overview of the quality of the world’s airport lounges in 2013

“For the past eight years, the Lounge of the Year awards has given Priority Pass members the opportunity to provide us and our partners with their feedback regarding what they value in an airport lounge. As our members are regular travelers, many of them on business, airport lounges are a key contributor to a smooth and productive trip. “It is great to see our lounge partners striving so hard to continually improve the quality of offering available to Priority Pass members. We commend the Louis’ Tavern CIP First Class Lounge team for their excellent product and dedication to making our members’ journeys all the more memorable.” There were a total of nine winners in the Priority Pass 2013 Lounge of the Year Awards, including five regional winners: Global Best Lounge: Pau Casals VIP lounge, Barcelona El Prat Global Best Refreshments: No.1 Heathrow, Terminal 3, London Heathrow Airport Global Best Staff: Escape Lounge, Terminal 1, Manchester Airport Global Best Business Facilities: Dilmun Lounge, Bahrain International Airport Asia Pacific: Louis’ Tavern CIP First Class Lounge, International Terminal, Concourse G, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport Europe: Pau Casals VIP lounge, Barcelona El Prat (Global Winner) Latin America and Caribbean: Sumaq VIP Lounge and Business Centre, Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport Middle East and Africa: Al Dhabi Lounge, Abu Dhabi International Airport North America: United Club, Terminal E, Houston Texas International Airport High resolution Images plus video content of the winning lounge can be found at www.prioritypass.com/apacloungeoftheyearaward2013. ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS: Priority Pass Priority Pass provides frequent travellers with airport lounge access, irrespective of their class of travel, airline flown or existing membership in an airline loyalty programme. Launched in 1992, Priority Pass now offers more than 600 airport lounges worldwide in 300 cities in over 100 countries. Priority Pass is part of Priority Travel Group, a division of The Collinson Group, specialising in the international travel clubs and services sector. For more information, visit www.prioritypass.com. For further press information and images: Adrian Beeby, Director FWD PR T +44 (0)20 7623 2368 M +44 (0)7879 403564 Email: adrian.beeby@fwdpr.co.uk

Stephen Simpson

Stephen joined Priority Pass in 2013 to build on the existing global reach and strategic planning of its marketing endeavours, as well as to drive the brand to ensure it delivers against significant commercial objectives for growth.

He has over 12 years experience working in senior management within telecoms, technology, energy and retail sectors, across three continents. Stephen’s career has a strong focus on delivering global marketing strategies, while driving regional and channel implementation.

Before joining Priority Pass, Stephen was Global Consumer Marketing Director at AVG Technologies, a security software firm. Prior to that, he worked at the global telecoms provider Orange-France Telecoms Group and the Carphone Warehouse Group, the European based telecoms retailer, as well as several businesses in his home country of Australia.

Stephen is delighted to bring his experience to an industry for which he is very passionate about, having himself been a frequent business traveler for over a decade.