Brisbane Airport's Plaza Premium lounge to open this month

Brisbane Airport's Plaza Premium lounge is now open – but is it worth the $56 entry fee? Read our independent review to find out!

AusBT review: Plaza Premium Lounge, Brisbane International Airport

PREVIOUS | Australia's first Plaza Premium-branded lounge will open at Brisbane Airport this month.

The independent lounge, located at the international terminal, will allow travellers to pay an up-front fee to use the lounge's facilities – including meals, drinks and showers – before their flight.

It comes amid a burst of lounge activity, which has recently seen the opening of an all-new Air New Zealand lounge...

... which will soon be joined by a new-look Singapore Airlines lounge, modelled along the same lines as its Sydney sibling.

Also on the cards is an extensive overhaul of Brisbane Airport's Qantas lounges with a significantly larger Qantas Club, a new Qantas Business Lounge (and invitation-only Chairman's Lounge) plus an international business/first class lounge.

Read more: Four new Qantas lounges will open at Brisbane Airport this year

PREVIOUS | Brisbane Airport will gain a new airline-independent lounge later this year with the opening of a Plaza Premium lounge at the international terminal.

The paid-access lounge is aimed at travellers who either lack the frequent flyer status to access their own airline’s lounge, or are flying with an airline which doesn’t have a lounge at Brisbane.

Unlike the company's two Sydney lounges, which are managed by Plaza Premium on behalf of the SkyTeam airline alliance and American Express (below), the Brisbane lounge will be branded as a Plaza Premium property and is expected to welcome Priority Pass members.

Like its many siblings around the world, the lounge will be divided into several zones, each of which fulfils a different purpose – relaxing, dining or working – and is designed accordingly.

Plaza Premium, which designs and manages airport lounges under its own brand and for partners, has an ambitious slate for 2015.

In addition to Brisbane the company will open lounges at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 (its second arrivals lounge at Heathrow), Singapore, Phnom Penh, Salalah, Shanghai, Siem Reap and Winnipeg, as well as refurbish its existing facilities at Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad, Johor and Macau.

Mei-Mei Song, Corporate Communications Manager with Plaza Premium Lounge Management (above) tells Australian Business Traveller that the new lounge at Singapore's Changi Airport will be "where the Rainforest Lounge was in T1 – we've taken over the space to become a Plaza Premium lounge and it's going to be very exciting.

Each of the new lounges will showcase new designs  "including a 2015 model of its signature seating and lighting,", the company says, while "all massage services in the lounges will be upgraded and operated by premium organic airport spa brand, Wellness Spa."

"For food and beverage, new lounges will introduce The Green Market, to promote healthy food options and have new live-cooking food counters."

Also on the cards: the company's first airport hotels, opening from late 2015 at Singapore, London and Abu Dhabi.

Each hotel will ideally be located within the airport terminal so that travellers can quickly check in and check out to make the most of their stopover time.

Read: Plaza Premium moves from lounges to airport hotels

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David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.