I’d like to dedicate a post to talking about one of my favorite hotel amenities — club lounges. What are they, why do I love them so much, and what does their future look like?

Hotel club lounge (also often referred to as executive lounges, concierge lounges, etc.), are lounges within a hotel that offer drinks and snacks throughout the day:

Before I share why I like hotel club lounges so much, I’d like to talk a bit about the huge variance in the quality of club lounges, as they’re not all created equal. As a general rule of thumb, here are some considerations that determine how good a club lounge is:

On one end of the spectrum, you have your run of the mill Marriott club lounge in the United States, which is generally going to be a pretty unremarkable room, with TVs broadcasting stuff at a high volume (this drives me nuts — is it just me?).

In the evening there might be a limited selection of food, plus some pretty not-so-exciting alcohol available for purchase.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Ritz-Carlton club lounges in Asia, which are gorgeous rooms with amazing views. The lounges have five food presentations per day, each of which could pass as a full meal. The ambiance is also great, and in some cases you might even have live music in the lounge.

In terms of food & drinks, you can expect everything from an extensive breakfast buffet, to a lunch buffet, to afternoon tea, to an evening spread with complimentary champagne, cocktails made by bartenders, etc., to a dedicated dessert selection.

There are of course lots of high quality club lounges beyond Ritz-Carlton. A couple, in particular, come to mind: