J Passengers can pay for Al Sawfa Access - Now 600 QAR
Jun 25, 2019, 10:26 am
#302
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Frankfurt
Programs: QR Platinum
Posts: 256
[QUOTE=lost_in_translation;31225185]The Oryx Airport Hotel typically prices at around 1,000 QAR for a stay of up to 24 hours, so will probably end up being cheaper than the lounge for two people now. The Al Safwa sleeping rooms are fine given they are in a lounge but not without issues (e.g. they are really quite small, the temperature control doesn't always work and whilst the bedding is OK it's certainly not up to the standard of a decent 4 star hotel). The question is whether you just want to sleep as long as possible between flights (in which case I'd take the hotel) or if you'll use the food and drink in Al Safwa to the extent that makes it better
Last edited by toz100; Jun 25, 2019 at 10:28 am Reason: Sorry wrong thread
Jun 25, 2019, 10:48 am
#303
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,252
So I am purely guessing here, but based on a lot of dealings with QR (and also what happened the last two times they changed Al Safwa access rules) my assumption is that the price is indeed now QAR 600 but that this has been poorly communicated internally and so not everyone knows. Indeed, I imagine currently some of the front desk staff on Al Safwa may not know this so you may even get lucky and still be charged QAR 250 for the next few weeks if you try your luck...
Jun 25, 2019, 11:06 am
#305
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,949
I'm going to stick my neck out here, and probably upset quite a few of you, but I'm pleased the price has increased.
Now first of all, the price rises have been discussed for the past month within QR. The rise was meant to be put into place in Q4, but it appears to have been brought forward.
To blame the bloggers for the rise, is too easy. We know what bloggers do, and we've probably benefitted from their information about fares, flight tips etc. As a result, we really cant blame them for this rise. If anything, they are as culpable as anyone who has commentted on this 21 page thread to explain how happy they were that they could access the Al Safwa. However, they aren't blameless, and many more have likely purchased access to the Al Safwa because they read about it.
With the Al Safwa offering sleep rooms, air-side hotel bookings decreased noticeably (around 10%). With the hotel costing far more than the Al Safwa access used to (and still more than it costs now), it wasn't hard to see where people were going. It's worth remembering that QR do have a presence on FT, and there have been lurkers for a number of years (who have indirectly provided early notice for things like the Sake and Satay Fares), so they know well what people are doing.
The food in the Al Safwa has never been great. It suffers from a lack of open flame, but the QR concept of a sit down restaurant provides the perception of quality. Alcohol however, is one area which the Al Safwa is well catered for. I won't go into the obvious costings etc, but there have been a number of people removed from the lounge due to excessive drinking - although they have been given sleeping rooms to aid their recovery (albeit in the Police station opposed to lounge). Is it possible to drink expensive spirits and champagne, which outweights your entry cost? Yes of course it is. However this is the case across lounges around the world, and anyone who actually appreciates alcohol, will be doing so with enjoyment opposed to novelty.
Now of course, there will be many here who bemoan the price rises, and I understand your frustration. However, your frustration is actually disappointment at not being able to access a very special lounge, for a low price. Instead, you can still access the Al Safwa, but at a much more reasonable price; and arguably the price you would have expected to pay originally.
Will the lounge go back to being relatively empty? Yes, it will in the short term. However, there are access changes which will benefit QRPC Platinum cardholders in the future, as well as obviously the ability to buy access.
I'll pick up the responses to this in the morning!
Safe travels
M
Now first of all, the price rises have been discussed for the past month within QR. The rise was meant to be put into place in Q4, but it appears to have been brought forward.
To blame the bloggers for the rise, is too easy. We know what bloggers do, and we've probably benefitted from their information about fares, flight tips etc. As a result, we really cant blame them for this rise. If anything, they are as culpable as anyone who has commentted on this 21 page thread to explain how happy they were that they could access the Al Safwa. However, they aren't blameless, and many more have likely purchased access to the Al Safwa because they read about it.
With the Al Safwa offering sleep rooms, air-side hotel bookings decreased noticeably (around 10%). With the hotel costing far more than the Al Safwa access used to (and still more than it costs now), it wasn't hard to see where people were going. It's worth remembering that QR do have a presence on FT, and there have been lurkers for a number of years (who have indirectly provided early notice for things like the Sake and Satay Fares), so they know well what people are doing.
The food in the Al Safwa has never been great. It suffers from a lack of open flame, but the QR concept of a sit down restaurant provides the perception of quality. Alcohol however, is one area which the Al Safwa is well catered for. I won't go into the obvious costings etc, but there have been a number of people removed from the lounge due to excessive drinking - although they have been given sleeping rooms to aid their recovery (albeit in the Police station opposed to lounge). Is it possible to drink expensive spirits and champagne, which outweights your entry cost? Yes of course it is. However this is the case across lounges around the world, and anyone who actually appreciates alcohol, will be doing so with enjoyment opposed to novelty.
Now of course, there will be many here who bemoan the price rises, and I understand your frustration. However, your frustration is actually disappointment at not being able to access a very special lounge, for a low price. Instead, you can still access the Al Safwa, but at a much more reasonable price; and arguably the price you would have expected to pay originally.
Will the lounge go back to being relatively empty? Yes, it will in the short term. However, there are access changes which will benefit QRPC Platinum cardholders in the future, as well as obviously the ability to buy access.
I'll pick up the responses to this in the morning!
Safe travels
M
Jun 25, 2019, 11:43 am
#306
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,252
I'm going to stick my neck out here, and probably upset quite a few of you, but I'm pleased the price has increased.
Now first of all, the price rises have been discussed for the past month within QR. The rise was meant to be put into place in Q4, but it appears to have been brought forward.
To blame the bloggers for the rise, is too easy. We know what bloggers do, and we've probably benefitted from their information about fares, flight tips etc. As a result, we really cant blame them for this rise. If anything, they are as culpable as anyone who has commentted on this 21 page thread to explain how happy they were that they could access the Al Safwa. However, they aren't blameless, and many more have likely purchased access to the Al Safwa because they read about it.
With the Al Safwa offering sleep rooms, air-side hotel bookings decreased noticeably (around 10%). With the hotel costing far more than the Al Safwa access used to (and still more than it costs now), it wasn't hard to see where people were going. It's worth remembering that QR do have a presence on FT, and there have been lurkers for a number of years (who have indirectly provided early notice for things like the Sake and Satay Fares), so they know well what people are doing.
The food in the Al Safwa has never been great. It suffers from a lack of open flame, but the QR concept of a sit down restaurant provides the perception of quality. Alcohol however, is one area which the Al Safwa is well catered for. I won't go into the obvious costings etc, but there have been a number of people removed from the lounge due to excessive drinking - although they have been given sleeping rooms to aid their recovery (albeit in the Police station opposed to lounge). Is it possible to drink expensive spirits and champagne, which outweights your entry cost? Yes of course it is. However this is the case across lounges around the world, and anyone who actually appreciates alcohol, will be doing so with enjoyment opposed to novelty.
Now of course, there will be many here who bemoan the price rises, and I understand your frustration. However, your frustration is actually disappointment at not being able to access a very special lounge, for a low price. Instead, you can still access the Al Safwa, but at a much more reasonable price; and arguably the price you would have expected to pay originally.
Will the lounge go back to being relatively empty? Yes, it will in the short term. However, there are access changes which will benefit QRPC Platinum cardholders in the future, as well as obviously the ability to buy access.
I'll pick up the responses to this in the morning!
Safe travels
M
Now first of all, the price rises have been discussed for the past month within QR. The rise was meant to be put into place in Q4, but it appears to have been brought forward.
To blame the bloggers for the rise, is too easy. We know what bloggers do, and we've probably benefitted from their information about fares, flight tips etc. As a result, we really cant blame them for this rise. If anything, they are as culpable as anyone who has commentted on this 21 page thread to explain how happy they were that they could access the Al Safwa. However, they aren't blameless, and many more have likely purchased access to the Al Safwa because they read about it.
With the Al Safwa offering sleep rooms, air-side hotel bookings decreased noticeably (around 10%). With the hotel costing far more than the Al Safwa access used to (and still more than it costs now), it wasn't hard to see where people were going. It's worth remembering that QR do have a presence on FT, and there have been lurkers for a number of years (who have indirectly provided early notice for things like the Sake and Satay Fares), so they know well what people are doing.
The food in the Al Safwa has never been great. It suffers from a lack of open flame, but the QR concept of a sit down restaurant provides the perception of quality. Alcohol however, is one area which the Al Safwa is well catered for. I won't go into the obvious costings etc, but there have been a number of people removed from the lounge due to excessive drinking - although they have been given sleeping rooms to aid their recovery (albeit in the Police station opposed to lounge). Is it possible to drink expensive spirits and champagne, which outweights your entry cost? Yes of course it is. However this is the case across lounges around the world, and anyone who actually appreciates alcohol, will be doing so with enjoyment opposed to novelty.
Now of course, there will be many here who bemoan the price rises, and I understand your frustration. However, your frustration is actually disappointment at not being able to access a very special lounge, for a low price. Instead, you can still access the Al Safwa, but at a much more reasonable price; and arguably the price you would have expected to pay originally.
Will the lounge go back to being relatively empty? Yes, it will in the short term. However, there are access changes which will benefit QRPC Platinum cardholders in the future, as well as obviously the ability to buy access.
I'll pick up the responses to this in the morning!
Safe travels
M
It's only taken them about six months to reach the conclusion I had on the first page of this thread (which is less than with the stupid call centre decision previously, at least). Neverthless, I could have told them on day one what the impact on airport hotel room bookings would be. This also doesn't take into account lost revenue from trade downs from F to J on CDG and LHR (I'm assuming these have happened as if I were still flying QR F - they've basically lost all my business to EK and WY these days, so I'm not really - that's exactly what I'd be doing currently), but I wait excitedly to see what's in store next for QR Plats nevertheless.
Jun 25, 2019, 11:49 am
#307
Join Date: May 2017
Programs: QR
Posts: 19
So I am purely guessing here, but based on a lot of dealings with QR (and also what happened the last two times they changed Al Safwa access rules) my assumption is that the price is indeed now QAR 600 but that this has been poorly communicated internally and so not everyone knows. Indeed, I imagine currently some of the front desk staff on Al Safwa may not know this so you may even get lucky and still be charged QAR 250 for the next few weeks if you try your luck...
Jun 25, 2019, 1:12 pm
#308
Join Date: Sep 2013
Programs: BAEC Gold, EK Skywards (enhanced Blue !), Oman Air Sindbad Gold
Posts: 6,399
...............................
.................... Alcohol however, is one area which the Al Safwa is well catered for. I won't go into the obvious costings etc, but there have been a number of people removed from the lounge due to excessive drinking - although they have been given sleeping rooms to aid their recovery (albeit in the Police station opposed to lounge).
............................................
M
Whilst I certainly have no wish to in any way trivialise the remainder of what was a very informative and interesting post (for which, thanks), it was this particular section that caught my eye more than anything.
So many punchlines can be predicted in advance of their arrival (even if only by a second or two) ; but this mention of ‘sleeping rooms’ coupled with police cells was one that I never saw coming ! Nicely done sir ^
Pleasing to see that this bad behaviour has been dealt with properly - although perhaps not surprisingly, in a country that has little tolerance for many of the unwelcome habits that have come to plague various other parts of the world.
Last edited by subject2load; Jun 25, 2019 at 1:20 pm
Jun 25, 2019, 11:04 pm
#310
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: QR Platinum, Star Alliance Gold (LH Sen)
Posts: 764
But I am waiting very excited to hear more from the intended "benfits" for Platinum members and when they will be implemented ;-)
If there is a plan, I do not understand the reason for waiting so long for implementation - if I remember right, you did mention something in this regard last December already....I hope you will get the permision from QR to tell us, soon :-)
Jun 25, 2019, 11:07 pm
#311
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: QR Platinum, Star Alliance Gold (LH Sen)
Posts: 764
Does that mean QR have actually been listening to what I and others have been posting?
It's only taken them about six months to reach the conclusion I had on the first page of this thread (which is less than with the stupid call centre decision previously, at least). Neverthless, I could have told them on day one what the impact on airport hotel room bookings would be. This also doesn't take into account lost revenue from trade downs from F to J on CDG and LHR (I'm assuming these have happened as if I were still flying QR F - they've basically lost all my business to EK and WY these days, so I'm not really - that's exactly what I'd be doing currently), but I wait excitedly to see what's in store next for QR Plats nevertheless.
It's only taken them about six months to reach the conclusion I had on the first page of this thread (which is less than with the stupid call centre decision previously, at least). Neverthless, I could have told them on day one what the impact on airport hotel room bookings would be. This also doesn't take into account lost revenue from trade downs from F to J on CDG and LHR (I'm assuming these have happened as if I were still flying QR F - they've basically lost all my business to EK and WY these days, so I'm not really - that's exactly what I'd be doing currently), but I wait excitedly to see what's in store next for QR Plats nevertheless.
Jun 26, 2019, 12:20 am
#312
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,949
Does that mean QR have actually been listening to what I and others have been posting?
It's only taken them about six months to reach the conclusion I had on the first page of this thread (which is less than with the stupid call centre decision previously, at least). Neverthless, I could have told them on day one what the impact on airport hotel room bookings would be. This also doesn't take into account lost revenue from trade downs from F to J on CDG and LHR (I'm assuming these have happened as if I were still flying QR F - they've basically lost all my business to EK and WY these days, so I'm not really - that's exactly what I'd be doing currently), but I wait excitedly to see what's in store next for QR Plats nevertheless.
It's only taken them about six months to reach the conclusion I had on the first page of this thread (which is less than with the stupid call centre decision previously, at least). Neverthless, I could have told them on day one what the impact on airport hotel room bookings would be. This also doesn't take into account lost revenue from trade downs from F to J on CDG and LHR (I'm assuming these have happened as if I were still flying QR F - they've basically lost all my business to EK and WY these days, so I'm not really - that's exactly what I'd be doing currently), but I wait excitedly to see what's in store next for QR Plats nevertheless.
While the above is pretty obvious, the additional losses of revenue through the airport hotel and duty free sales, means QR have to tread a thin line between selling out, and maintaining the levels of perceived luxury and elegance they're aiming for.
Something QR have learnt through FT, as well as other sources, is the importance of looking after their Platinum members.
I am not offended at all by the entrance fee increase. It just doesnīt make sense for me anymore to take it, as my layovers are only approx. 2 hours all the time.
But I am waiting very excited to hear more from the intended "benfits" for Platinum members and when they will be implemented ;-)
If there is a plan, I do not understand the reason for waiting so long for implementation - if I remember right, you did mention something in this regard last December already....I hope you will get the permision from QR to tell us, soon :-)
But I am waiting very excited to hear more from the intended "benfits" for Platinum members and when they will be implemented ;-)
If there is a plan, I do not understand the reason for waiting so long for implementation - if I remember right, you did mention something in this regard last December already....I hope you will get the permision from QR to tell us, soon :-)
The changes for QR Platinum cardholders were discussed last year, amended and improved, then stalled! I've been told some of the proposed changes, and they do sound good.
M
Jun 26, 2019, 12:44 am
#313
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: QR Platinum, Star Alliance Gold (LH Sen)
Posts: 764
So hopefully the "good sounding" changes will come soon!
Jun 26, 2019, 2:01 am
#314
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,949
M
Jun 26, 2019, 2:52 am
#315
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: CMB/LHR
Programs: QR Gold / OW Sapphire, Le Club Accor Gold, Shangri La Jade
Posts: 144
I have a quick Q about Al Safwa access eligibility.....I have tried searching, but haven't found the answer. Apologies in advance if I haven't tried hard enough and the answer is out there...!
Am looking at a flight options currently for a family trip later in the year. Will be arriving into DOH on QR metal (from MUC) and departing to CMB on UL metal (all in J), the latter which will be ticketed through QR website and carries QR flight number (QR4917).
Can I assume that there will be no problem paying for Al Safwa lounge access? Just mindful because we are departing DOH On UL metal.
This option has a 6.5hr layover, and spans the late afternoon - evening shoulder period so hotel not required, or desired. Family includes <2yrs infant and a five year old - and I was keen to check out the family rooms etc. (we've experienced it several times at Al Mourjan). Would my five year old also be charged full entry fee?
Any insights welcome.
Am looking at a flight options currently for a family trip later in the year. Will be arriving into DOH on QR metal (from MUC) and departing to CMB on UL metal (all in J), the latter which will be ticketed through QR website and carries QR flight number (QR4917).
Can I assume that there will be no problem paying for Al Safwa lounge access? Just mindful because we are departing DOH On UL metal.
This option has a 6.5hr layover, and spans the late afternoon - evening shoulder period so hotel not required, or desired. Family includes <2yrs infant and a five year old - and I was keen to check out the family rooms etc. (we've experienced it several times at Al Mourjan). Would my five year old also be charged full entry fee?
Any insights welcome.