It is the place you go before catching a flight from Bristol Airport if you want to spend a bit more and have a little bit more luxury.
But the Aspire Lounge at Bristol Airport appears to have divided opinion.
Some people love it, go back time and again, think it’s worth the extra money and heartily recommend it to friends, family and anyone else in the world.
While others think it is the worst place ever, and wouldn’t dream of darkening its door again.
It truly is the Marmite of Bristol locations with the special departure lounge triggering polarised views.
It began, as arguments about places to go do begin nowadays, on Trip Advisor, and with the words of one person.
Two years ago, a TripAdvisor user called Alfieboy79, who is from Bristol and a regular writer of reviews on there, had a bad experience at the Aspire Lounge at Bristol Airport.
He told how he and his wife were a couple in their late 40s, who had not been impressed with what they’d found.
“The short time I spent in this ‘new’ lounge was unacceptable,” he wrote, before listing off all the many things he found wrong in that short time.
“Tables full, dirty plates and the queues. Queues for coffee. Even queues and lines for the salad leaves/dry nuts,” he added.
It got worse for Alfie.
Aspire Lounge customers have paid extra - or their airline package includes it - to have unlimited free food and drink, all for a starting price of £22.99 (which rises to £26.99 between April and October) for three hours before their flight.
But Alfie did not get the feeling the staff were pleased to give stuff away for free.
Disapproving looks
“Do not even think about asking for two drinks at a time (me and my wife),” he explained.
“The look of disapproval i got from one of the few staff, we found working, was shocking.
“We are a couple in our late 40s, not a stag/hen weekend. Not value for money. Just find a nice seat in the airport for better quality,” he advised.
That was two years ago, but it started a debate, argument and/or disagreement on TripAdvisor that rumbles on today.
There were many in agreement with Alfie’s damning assessment.
TripAdvisor reviewer David342 came all the way from London to the Aspire Lounge for a flight in July last year, and wasn’t impressed - and for David, it was all about the details.
“We were left completely underwhelmed,” he wrote.
“Firstly, we were very disappointed by the location, there is no view of the runway, in fact no view of the airport at all!
“The high walls are the only thing you’ll see while seated, and you get the impression this room has been crammed into the building as an additional revenue stream without any consideration of layout or guest experience,” he added.
Eating is a difficult task
David warned others on TripAdvisor that, while the food might be free, the physical task of eating it was challenging there: “The seats are simply too low for the tables, meaning eating is a difficult task, and just making sure you don’t spill any food on your clothing is difficult in itself,” he said, with slightly too much detail to leave the reader thinking he got onto his flight clean-chested.
“The lounge is understaffed and in our case our female check-in agent was also the bar staff member so don’t expect to find a clean table quickly,” he added.
“And the food is not as advertised. Much of the supposed ‘hot menu’ was not on display, and there were no rice crackers, nuts crisps or any ‘help yourself’ trays despite them clearly being advertised on their website and they ran out of Processo.
“Overall I wouldn’t ever go back, and it’s certainly not worth upgrading over the standard lounge or the additional price tag. A complete failure on all levels!” he ended.
Tracksuits
Those agreeing have continued to pile in, regularly, every couple of weeks, ever since.
For example: “Pretty grim, queue to get in, and a lot of people in tracksuits,” wrote ‘moleBath’ at the end of September last year - which is curious because Aspire Lounge’s website includes specific advice that its dress code bans sportswear which includes football shorts, football shirts, baseball caps and tracksuits.
Even TV comedian and actor Dom Joly is most definitely NOT a fan, tweeting this only six weeks ago after an experience there.
And just a couple of weeks ago, magazine writer Lisa Blake also took to Twitter to lambast what she found there.
Back on TripAdvisor and the reviews continued to agree with our original hero.
Someone called 837pfd was so cross they couldn’t even come up with anything approaching a real name, but he did say he came from Dublin and he did not like the Aspire Lounge either, calling it ‘quite dreadful’.
“The food quality is poor and the choice barely worth mentioning. The service is also poor. On more than one occasion we’ve had to search for a member of staff to admit us to the lounge,” he said, adding with a final condemnation: “By far the worst airport lounge that I’ve used.”
Michael C, who gave TripAdvisor his location as Funchal, was there at 5am on September 25, 2017 and it was a time and day etched onto his memory, as he instantly recalled it when writing on Trip Advisor almost a year later.
“No croissants,” he opened, which one might have put down to the early hour. “Find your own mug. No national newspapers. The staff talking amongst themselves and not manning the counter.”
The Sugar Incident
In April 2018, the sugar tax meant shops and restaurants had to pay a levy on sugary soft drinks. How does that affect the Aspire Lounge, where you’ve paid a penny short of £27 for free drinks? Duncan M, from Bristol was astonished to discover that it meant the Aspire Lounge were not in any mood to take the hit.
After the now-all-too-familiar start to the review about the staff’s lack of customer service early in the morning, Duncan soon moved onto the sugar.
“Diet soda available but no normal version,” he said, the bafflement still raw.
“Told I could not have it because of sugar tax. Had to leave lounge to get a drink.
“Company thinks that the wait to enter was just fine. Company has made a decision that no sugar-based drinks are available on tap but lies in saying they are behind the bar. Really poor experience. Nothing about zero sugar policy on website,” he added.
But then, through this thread of disappointment, sugarlust, missing croissants and messy shirts, there came those for whom the Aspire Lounge was much-loved.
They were the people who were equally baffled, for they had a wonderful experience there.
At first, they were tentative. “I used the standard lounge and thought it was pretty good,” said Robbo23, from Bristol more than a year ago. “Quiet, easy and relaxing.”
Then there was 543 Tomel, who came up from Exeter and loved it.
"It was really great"
“We had never had the use of an airport lounge before but this came as part of the package with Sovereign Holidays.
“It was really great - booked from 4am and got a beautifully cooked breakfast - go back as many times as you wanted - plus coffee, juice etc and other things to eat.
“Good comfortable seating/tables or low sofas and coffee tables, free wifi, lovely clean cloakroom/toilets and pleasant staff.
“It really made us relax ready for our flight and we didn’t need to buy any food on flight after this lovely breakfast,” she added.
Nicola C from Bideford continued the charge for the Aspire Lounge. “I must be one of the minority who actually really enjoyed my lounge experience!” she began, before detailing how she enjoyed the food very much, and the wine, and the friends she met there.
“Overall, I really enjoyed it,” she concluded. “Yes you could probably go to a nearby pub, pay less and get more for your money, but to be honest, we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The staff were pleasant and it was a lovely way to start our holiday.”
Back came 543Tomel, from Exeter, who said she read all the negative comments and decided to check out what the rest of the Airport was like instead of going to the Aspire Lounge again.
“We tried to get refreshment at the various cafes etc, but they were all packed, noisy, uncomfortable, not very clean and were expensive with very limited offerings, so we just gave up,” she explained.
So she and her husband went back to the Aspire Lounge and found it was just as good as when she’d experienced it before.
The row over whether the Aspire Lounge is dreadful or brilliant continues to this day.
In March this year, George B, from Bristol was left baffled by the negativity. “That’s weird,” he said, confirming that bafflement. “When I went there before a trip on holiday with me and three others, it was amazing!
“All sorts of food to have, virtually no queue for anything, and the people working there brought us two-plus drinks happily with a smile on their faces. Also, the tables were nice and clean,” he added.
What do Aspire Lounge say?
Aspire Lounge is not run by Bristol Airport itself, but by the airport firm Swissport.
We asked them if they had seen this crazy debate, and what they thought of it.
“Aspire Lounge takes feedback on our services very seriously and we are always looking for ways to improve our guests’ experience,” a spokesperson said.
“We will continue to work to provide the best service possible. This is underpinned by our commitment to give guests a great start to their journey and we are pleased to welcome two million guests to our UK lounges every year,” she added.
