Category: Cards

American Express is bringing a Centurion Lounge to continental Europe for the first time.

The 33rd Centurion Lounge opens Thursday, September 17, at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS). It’s in the airport’s non-Schengen zone between Concourses E and F. And the entryway is just up the stairs near the Lounge No. 50 sign.

At nearly 6,000 square feet, Amsterdam is far from the largest Centurion Lounge in the issuer’s network. But after walking through the space ahead of its opening, it doesn’t feel quite as small as that number suggests.

Tall ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows bring plenty of natural light into the lounge, while the layout breaks the space into several distinct areas. There’s a dedicated coffee bar, dining area, full-service bar, and different types of seating across the lounge.

Amex also packed quite a bit of the Netherlands into the space.

There are deep greens and blues inspired by Amsterdam’s canals, Dutch florals, locally sourced coffee and tea, work from local artists, and a Delft-style version of Amex’s bulldog mascot.

The goal, according to Vince Carbone, Amex’s director of global lounge design strategy, was to make the lounge distinctly Amsterdam without making the references too “on the nose.”

That’s a pretty good description of what Amex built. It still looks and feels like a Centurion Lounge, but the Amsterdam influence is impossible to miss.

Bringing Amsterdam Into a Centurion Lounge

No two Centurion Lounges are designed to be exactly alike, and much of what distinguishes Amsterdam comes down to the details.

The local references start near the entrance. A painting featuring Sir Charles Frosty Blue (Amex’s mascot, not Dutch royalty) incorporates Delftware and Dutch florals. Work from local artists lines the walls, while flowers and other references to the Dutch landscape decorate tables and shelves.

Color plays an even bigger role.

Deep greens and blues run throughout the space, inspired in large part by Amsterdam’s maze of waterways. Color blocking (which, I learned, is the practice of using distinct areas of color to define a space) also helps separate one part of the lounge from another without making each area feel disconnected.

The ceiling is another integral part of the space, although it isn’t entirely an Amex creation. The lounge was built out of former office space, and the tall, angular ceilings were already there.

Amex incorporated that existing architecture into the design. The triangular forms overhead add dimension, while the ceiling height and floor-to-ceiling windows help make the relatively compact lounge feel a lot more open.

And perhaps a little more upscale.

Moving through the space takes you from general seating to the Blue Roast Coffee Bar, dining area, and eventually the main bar. Additional seating runs along the perimeter beside the windows.

Then there are details that are easier to miss.

For instance, Amex has made a habit of hiding a bulldog statue in its Centurion Lounges. Amsterdam’s version sits above the bar, rendered appropriately in Delft style.

Coffee Is Getting More Attention

One of the most prominent parts of the lounge isn’t the traditional Centurion bar.

It’s the coffee bar.

Amsterdam is the fourth Centurion Lounge to feature Amex’s Blue Roast Coffee Bar, following Seattle, New York-JFK, and Salt Lake City. The branding carries over, but the coffee and tea are sourced locally and brewed fresh by a barista behind the counter.

There’s also another reason Amex is putting more emphasis on coffee.

The Global Lounge team said it’s seeing customers drink less alcohol and show more interest in coffee and nonalcoholic beverages. That’s beginning to influence what Amex prioritizes inside its lounges.

The full-service bar isn’t going anywhere, and Amsterdam has one of those, too. But Blue Roast gets its own dedicated space rather than feeling like an extension of the dining area.

Food is another important part of the Centurion Lounge experience. Amex even went so far as to call it a main draw.

The Amsterdam menu mixes global and European flavors with Dutch staples, like bitterballen. Amex also mentioned herring and eel as examples of regional European dishes that will be served, although it wasn’t clear when or how often those will appear once the lounge opens.

Some dishes are expected to rotate roughly every three weeks, while other staples will stay.

Like the design itself, the food gives Amex another way to make the lounge feel connected to Amsterdam without changing the basic Centurion Lounge formula.

Making the Most of 6,000 Square Feet

The Amsterdam lounge is noticeably smaller than some of the newer Centurion Lounges Amex has opened in the U.S.

There’s a fairly simple reason for that. Airport real estate doesn’t grow on trees. And Amex’s team isn’t shy about saying that lounge development often comes down to what space an airport can make available.

At Schiphol, space is particularly hard to come by.

The existing architecture ended up working in Amex’s favor. Instead of one large seating area, the lounge progresses through smaller spaces for seating, coffee, dining, and the main bar. Combined with the tall ceilings and natural light, the layout keeps the footprint from feeling compressed.

Patrick McGinley, Amex’s director and design and construction program manager for Centurion Lounges, said the finished product turned out better than he originally expected.

Amex worked closely with Schiphol and Dutch partners to get the lounge built, and indicated that it expects to stay in touch with the airport if opportunities for additional space come along later.

There’s nothing more concrete than that for now. But even ahead of the official opening, Amex isn’t ready to close the loop on what the lounge could eventually become.

Why Amsterdam Makes Sense for Amex

The opening is also another step in taking a Centurion Lounge network that has historically been concentrated in the U.S. farther abroad.

Members of Amex’s Global Lounge team pointed to growth in the company’s international business and demand for lounges in more parts of the world.

Schiphol is important both for people beginning trips in the Netherlands and for those passing through one of Europe’s biggest connecting hubs. Amex expects the lounge to draw a mix of U.S. and international Platinum Card Members, without a necessarily particular tilt toward either group.

There’s also a notable network effect from the U.S.

Several major U.S. gateways with nonstop service to Amsterdam already have Centurion Lounges. Platinum Card Members have access to a much broader collection of lounges around the world through the American Express Global Lounge Collection, but Amsterdam extends Amex’s own Centurion brand farther along those trips.

Someone leaving a U.S. gateway with a Centurion Lounge, such as Atlanta or New York-JFK, can now see that same Centurion logo again while passing through Schiphol, just as they can in London, Tokyo, and elsewhere.

And at 33 locations, the network is pretty substantial in its own right. The Centurion Lounge footprint rivals or even exceeds the proprietary lounge networks of some airlines.

But that doesn’t mean Amex is about to start opening lounges across Europe or the rest of the world at the same pace it has in the U.S.

The Global Lounge team was pretty careful on that point. International growth has made additional markets attractive, and there’s demand to put lounges in more places. Over the long term, some additional balance between the domestic and international network makes sense, but Amex isn’t looking to swing too far in either direction.

Expansion isn’t the only focus, either. Lounges in Boston, Newark, and a Sidecar location in Charlotte are on the way, but Amex is also reinvesting in existing locations. Dallas Fort Worth, one of the older outposts in the Centurion network, is getting a revamped and larger lounge as part of that effort.

That mix of new locations and updates to existing ones is shaping the network as it grows. And Amsterdam just happens to be the newest piece and the first in continental Europe.

But for all the significance Amex places on the opening, the lounge itself isn’t trying particularly hard to make a statement about it. It’s still recognizably a Centurion Lounge. The Amsterdam part comes through in the colors, artwork, coffee, food, and little details scattered around the space.

It’s distinctly Amsterdam, without being too on the nose.