American Express announced on Tuesday that it will be bringing one of its high-end Centurion airport lounges to a new location. The credit card company is opening a new edition of the franchise at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
“The Centurion Lounge is one of our Card Members’ favorite travel benefits, and the new location at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport offers Card Members the premium amenities they love in an airport they frequently travel through,” said Audrey Hendley, president of American Express Travel, in a statement.
Reagan is the country’s 24th-largest airport by passenger enplanements according to the Department of Transportation. This new location will be the 15th Centurion lounge that AmEx is opening in the U.S.
The lounge is a feature available only to holders of the company’s Platinum or Centurion cards, with the Centurion being known as the “black” card.
This lounge will feature a menu curated by three award-winning chefs, as well as amenities such as a meeting room, a shower suite, and an art collection that includes a ceiling sculpture with 260 lanterns in the shape of D.C.’s original boundaries.
Offering access to luxury amenities and experiences is a significant part of American Express’s marketing strategy, which explains why the company recently spent $400 million to acquire the restaurant reservation management company Tock. At an aviation conference hosted by Skift last year, AmEx executive Manisha Jain said that the Centurion lounges have become an increasingly important aspect of the company’s offerings over the past 10 years.
“We always hear from our customers that they arrive early if there’s going to be a Centurion Lounge there,” she said.