Global restaurateur HMSHost and Airport Lounge Development, the largest U.S. independent shared-use lounge developer, have collaborated to implement menus from popular HMSHost-operated restaurants into ALD-operated The Club airport lounges, enhancing the overall passenger experience, debuting the collaboration in Phoenix and Atlanta. Customers in The Club at ATL in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (located in Concourse F on the Mezzanine Level) can now order from the Ecco menu, and customers in The Club at PHX (located in Terminal 4 across from Gate B22 on the upper level) can order from Cowboy Ciao. ALD operates the largest U.S. network of independent shared-use lounges, and Ralph Kinder, ALD director of operations, says, “The partnership with HMSHost is just one part of our strategic visions to enhance the guest experience and provide a truly hospitable lounge that is available to all travelers, regardless of airline or class of service flown, and we’re excited to collaborate on continued industry leadership through this project.”
“We selected their best lounges to put our best foot forward,” says Jim Schmitz, HMSHost vice president of innovation. “Our restaurant offering in Phoenix is probably one of the best in the country,” he says. Noting, “It’s important, when a customer comes to the airport, to give them a sense of place,” Schmitz adds, “We feel we started that trend a few years ago.” Visitors and residents alike have another avenue to try a local restaurant.
Cowboy Ciao is one of Phoenix’s must-try restaurants on the street and has been open in the B gate area of Terminal 4 since 2012. It was a perfect fit for the lounge experience both for the fact of it being one of Phoenix’s most iconic restaurants and the operational advantage of adjacency to the lounge. “We could get a hot meal there in a timely manner and not go through various security measures in different terminals,” Schmitz explains.
