American Express Members Lounge
This weekend, after the pulse pounding Michael Bay-esque software development conference, my dear wife dragged me off to the mall for some shopping (as in - she shops, I sit around and do nothing). Luckily I had a secret weapon in my arsenal. I had received a postcard earlier in the week from American Express telling me about their new members lounge at the Natick Collection (the new X-tra snooty name for what we used to call “The Natick Mall” or worse yet, just “The Mall”).
Some direct marketing actually got through to me - go figure. The lounge is very cool. 
It reminds me of the clubs at the airport that keep out the dirty cake-eating civilians, to create an oasis of peace and quiet for the business traveller.
I was greeted at the door and my card was run through a handheld scanner. This granted me access to the inner sanctum. It’s a room about the size of the average store in the mall, brown leather seats sort of like restaurant booths, 3 drink stations with water, lemonade and one of those multi-coffee, latte, chai, hot chocolate machines.
They wrap gifts for free and have their own bathroom. Only 2 things bothered me, one was the lack of wireless service, but they do have 3 Macs connected to the web. The other was that I can’t believe that there are people who can complain about the types of coffee offered in the machine. Here’s a great new service, all kinds of free stuff and a great place to hide, and some people can still find stuff to bitch about.
Screw them, the staff here is friendly even to those dolts. My time is up, the boss called. Shopping’s done.
Posted: November 8th, 2007 under Great Marketing.
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Comments: 5
Comments
Comment from Mike Maddaloni
Time: November 8, 2007, 11:29 am
Wow! Now there’s 2 reasons to go to Natick. 
mp/m
Comment from Chris Brogan…
Time: November 8, 2007, 1:35 pm
Wait a minute. So any American Express cardholder can go hang out in there? That’s so teh sexy, as the kids say. Holy cats!
Talk about a value-add.
Now, I wonder how shop owners think about that store. It’s a draw, a place to hang, and a place NOT to spend money. So, it’s a direct competitor to selling power. Right?
And yet, that’s where I’d hang. Hell, why not have meetings there, too?
Meet me at the Collection. (cough)
Comment from john
Time: November 8, 2007, 3:34 pm
One interesting twist my wife noted, it’s next to Neiman Marcus and I believe that the story is that they have kicked out Visa and only take cash, their own charge card, or AmEx. I think it’s a ride along thing - significant other #1 can shop until they drop because business addict s.o. #2 can hammer away in the lounge rather than sitting in an embarassing undergarment store.
I forgot another major point - they do gift wrapping for free!
Pingback from links for 2007-11-10 « Francis Anderson
Time: November 9, 2007, 8:26 pm
[…] American Express Members Lounge Very cool idea from American Express - a Members Lounge in a mall (I confess I hae no idea where Natick is). I recollect proposing similar iterations of this idea to clients over the years … great that someone has actually done it … (tags: americanexpress crm loyalty experiential) Posted by francisanderson Filed in Uncategorized […]
Comment from Mike
Time: November 13, 2007, 9:59 pm
Is this blog recent? It says 11/8/07…but might not be right.
They had this in Short Hills last year. Sounds like Natick gets the leftovers…ha. But, I’d like it if they brought it back, haven’t been over there in a bit…maybe it’s there already.
Do you have a freestanding one too? They had that over by Neimans…used to flash the platin…I mean plastic and grab a water as I walked by.
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