When we spend hours inside an airport, and more specifically in one of its VIP Lounges, one may get curious regarding how some things work, where you might end up asking yourself how many passengers visit those VIP Lounges in a month, how many sandwiches are consumed or where are the menus that they offer cooked?

At GIS we have the concession to manage all of the VIP Lounges at Madrid-Barajas airport which is why we have decided to collect some curiosities and interesting facts about the airport and the VIP Lounges you can find in it, so that you can get to know a bit more of what goes on «behind the scenes». Here they go!

How many people work in our VIP Lounges at Madrid-Barajas?

We have 130 permanent employees that can be incresed up to 150 during the summer in order to offer a quality service to all travellers.

What is the average of passengers visiting the airport’s VIP Lounges?

Depending on the lounge you will find more or less passengers. In the Cibeles VIP Lounge for example, the average in a month is approximately of 20.000 travellers, whilst in the Plaza Mayor VIP Lounge the average is 11.400.

How many sandwiches are consumed among all of the VIP Lounges operated by GIS? And which are the most desired meals? 

Although the number will vary from one day to another, the daily consumption of sandwhiches is between 400 and 700. Regarding the rest of the meals offered, the most desired ones on a daily basis are gazpacho, pumpkin soup, squid stew, lentil soup or cod pie among others.

Where is the food offered in Madrid-Barajas airport VIP Lounges cooked? And what changes have been introduced in the kitchen since the new concession with GIS?

Menus are cooked in the Cibeles kitchen where, as a relevant fact, renowned chef Andreu Genestra has just created a new special menu for our VIP Lounges that we will very soon start to offer. Our classic Food & Beverages menu has also grown to offer many more products and better quality than a while back.

What other improvements have we implemented from GIS with the new concession in the airport?

Currently we have 9 supervisors who control daily our VIP Lounges at Madrid-Barajas airport, 6 more employees in charge than in the previous concession. Furthermore and in order to motivate our staff, we have created a recognition program to choose the Employee of the Month. As an interesting fact for travellers, we have also increased the number of amenities for showers in VIP Lounges.

What are our goals for the VIP Lounges at Madrid-Barajas airport? 

Our main goal is to meet passengers’ expectations in every service. We currently have a satisfaction rate of 3.9 above 5 and our goal is to keep on improving to achieve excellence. During our first month we received 44 congratulations from our travellers, a much higher feedback than to the one received in the past 2 or 3 years.

Every day thousands of travellers come and go from airports all over the world. Some of them, and mainly those who are frequent travellers, know that having access to a VIP Lounge inside airports is one of the best options to be comfortable whilst waiting to board their next flight.

Sònia Graupera, freelance travel consultant based in Barcelona knows perfectly well what we’re talking about. Her specialty: unique trips to the most exclusive destinations around the globe. Sònia, as a frequent traveller has a first-hand knowledge regarding all the  facilities and amenities that airports’ VIP services offer, and as she claims, «accessing these services is easy and at any travellers reach».

At GIS, as we have already explained in other occasions we coordinate and manage VIP Lounges at airports being the  Barcelona – El Prat airport the first one who enabled us to embark on this adventure back in 2009.

Sònia is one of the frequent ttravellers who accesses the VIP Lounge at Barcelona airport, who aside from benefitting from some of our services through Premium Traveller our online platform, she’s catalogued the VIP Lounge «Pau Casals» in Barcelona’s airport as one of her best experiences among all the airports she has visited, hence she shared her experience talking about the quality and high standards of our services offering.

Recently Sònia Graupera reached out to us to tell us her impressions regarding the VIP facilities that we offer to our travellers. As Graupera explains, one of the best experiences that she has at Barcelona’s and Madrid’s airport is the moment when she enters in the VIP Lounges that both airports have: «It is the place where i can find a moment for myself and mentally get some rest, it’s my «me time» while on-the-go.»

Followed by:

«When I enter the airport’s VIP Lounges that’s when my moment begins. I look for one of the many sockets to plug and charge me iPhone, drink some water or tea and if I feel like it, get some food too – although I don’t usually eat a lot when I fly. It goes without saying that the puff pasties offered in these VIP Lounges are a big temptation for those who have a sweet tooth like I do, but also the salty food offering is so varied. Passengers here can choose from salads or pasta, as well as charcuterie or cheese snacks. You can also find warm dishes like quiche or a slice of pizza. And last but not least, a wide wine selection to choose from.»

«Once my iPhone is fully charged and I’ve made myself a drink, it is time for me to sit in one of the comfy couches with views to the terminal’s main hall and disconnect watching the come and go of passengers. Here is where I find my moment of peace and relax whilst beginning the start of my trip.»

Sònia, just like many other passengers, is a witness of the services that we offer in VIP airport Lounges and that at GIS we fully coordinate and manage.

So what about you? Would you like to live the same experience? Visit one of our VIP Lounges and we promise that we experience will be very rewarding.

Look up the airport of your next destination here and choose among our many VIP Lounges now!