Agreed with most of what is on here, but I believe it does come down to how PP separates out costs. From what I've seen and heard:
- They pay $20-$25 per person to lounges/restaurants, depending on what is negotiated with the restaurant.
- The credit card companies pay for each guest visit, but I'm not sure if the CC companies pay for unlimited visits for the cardholder, a limited number and then the guest price above that, or a hybrid model of $x/year for the membership and then a discounted rate on that.
If they get some fee per card carrying member of PP, that would likely be their source of profit. Many members would use it more but don't for various reasons, either having elite status with an airline, flying in J/F internationally, or having an airline club membership as well. Example: I'm flying to Asia this month and even though PP has convenient lounges available for me on 6 of the 7 departing flights, I'm using the Centurion Lounge in PHL and the oneworld lounges in BOS/HKG/BKK. Only HKT will see me using a PP lounge.as I'm flying Y on that flight.
Heck, I walked into a PP lounge with my friend last year to his exclamation of 'That's what the card is for!' Turns out he has had a CSR for over a year and never realized that he could get in to lounges with it.