Business

The rise of ultra-luxury lounges, with fine art, Michelin-starred menus and chauffeur-driven BMWs

Published

5 months ago

July 5, 2025

The world of travel changed immeasurably during the pandemic. Due to passengers being concerned about their health, premium classes and private jets both experienced a rise in customers, which continued long after the restrictions were removed.

Returning to how you used to travel is hard once you experience business class or the relative tranquility of an airport lounge. All this has resulted in airline lounges becoming increasingly crowded and less peaceful than before.

Airlines have tried to rectify the problems by removing lounge access for groups of customers or, in the case of British Airways, making status hard to achieve for most leisure travelers.

Meanwhile, wealthy passengers have found their own solution with ultra-luxury private lounges and even separate terminals.

These new experiences have been growing within the United States for some time, and now the concept is spreading to Europe and, in particular, the UK.

The exclusive airport spaces offer a different world from the standard airport lounge with its tired buffet and cheap drinks. No expense is spared for the privileged passengers, who can expect food by celebrity chefs, private security, and chauffeur-driven cars to their aircraft.

In the U.S., the ultra-luxury options include hiring a whole suite at La Guardia with three private rooms and a dedicated server in the Reserve Suites at the Sapphire Lounge.

In addition to a welcome caviar service and a wine list from New York wine bar Parcelle, guests can enjoy an à la carte menu from Jeffrey’s Grocery. Even the ensuite bathroom offers an elevated spa-like experience with Augustinus Bader amenities. Prices start from $2,200 for the smallest suite, which can take four people. The suites are even more exclusive, as you must be a Sapphire Reserve cardholder to book them.

Even more exclusive are the PS private terminals located in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

These offer different levels of service, with the entry-level offering general lounge access and shared transport from the terminal to your commercial flight for a mere $1,095. If you want more privacy, there is also the option of a private suite, which is perfect for a group or those with pets. All the options include check-in and customs in the terminal.

London Heathrow’s Windsor Suite has long been the preserve of royalty and superstars.

Heathrow was the first to offer an airport VIP service in the early sixties, initially serving diplomats and royalty exclusively.

Later, it became a paid-for suite in 2009, ready for the London Olympics.

The Suite has recently had a £3 million ($3.9 million) upgrade, which took eight months to complete.

Now named The Windsor by Heathrow, the private terminal prides itself on its discretion for high-profile guests but is open to anyone who can afford the fees.

With prices starting at £3,812 (inc VAT) for up to 3 guests, the luxury service offers a unique, ‘door to door’ experience, with a chauffeur-driven, all-electric BMW taking guests to their plane door.

The lounge consists of eight suites for the ultimate privacy which have been redesigned with British brands such as Tom Dixon and Axminster carpets.

Perhaps The Windsor suite’s most unusual feature is that it doubles as a private art gallery, showcasing museum-worthy art from British artists such as David Hockney, Tracey Emin, and Francis Bacon, as well as American icons like Andy Warhol.

Guests can also sample exclusive fine dining options from Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, including a new quintessentially British signature dish of butter shortbread with praline cream, Earl Grey tea ice cream, custard sauce, and charred mandarin.

Heathrow celebrated a record-breaking year in 2024 with 83.9 million passengers in 2024 which is 3 million more than the previous 2019 record.

Charlotte Burns, VIP Lead at Heathrow, said: “The Windsor by Heathrow is more than just a rebrand, it’s a testament to our heritage in pioneering luxury travel. From our carefully curated interiors to our exceptional service, we provide our guests with an unparalleled experience that reflects the finest of British hospitality.”

Paris Charles de Gaulle has also been trying to attract premium customers away from its rival Heathrow with the launch of a new La Premiere check-in and lounge for first-class passengers.

Check-in lounge of the new Air France La Première vestibule

The concept was to provide a completely private and seamless experience for first-class customers, including luggage assistance and a new check-in area with two private lounges for even more privacy.

Next comes a dedicated private pathway, through security checkpoints. Once in the main lounge, La Première customers can now book optional suites with a butler, a spacious living room, a bedroom with a double bed, a bathroom, and even an outdoor patio.

Air France also unveiled its new La Premiere First Class suites, which feature five windows, an Air France exclusive, a seat and a chaise longue that transform into a real 2-meter bed.

Meanwhile, at Manchester airport, the latest entrant on the scene is aether, which is a completely private terminal, making the experience similar to flying from a private jet terminal. Aether opened in 2024 after the previous reiteration of a private terminal closed during the pandemic.

A big bonus with aether is that if you want to bring your car, you can drive up to the private terminal and go through all the normal airport admin, such as check-in and security, within the building.

This not only reduces the stress of the airport experience but also drastically reduces the amount of time needed to complete formalities and get to the terminal.

Guest are taken to a lounge area by their host, who ensures they will get to their flight at exactly the right time. Meanwhile, they can sample seven-course menus by Adam Reid, the award-winning and renowned chef at Adam Reid at The French.

Even security within Aether is a premium experience as it will be closed off entirely for each person or traveling group. Finally, you will be chauffeur-driven in a BMW to your gate or aircraft.

Unlike many of its rivals, the aether experience is accessible for many budgets, with prices starting at £90 ($118) per person for the Express package for those with just cabin bags.

This provides access to go straight through the Private Terminal. ‘Inclusive’ is for those with either cabin or checked bags and can be used on either departure or arrival. This gives guests the full offering, including food, drinks, and even a private chauffeur to their aircraft.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “Here at Manchester Airport we’re proud to connect the North to the world via our ever-growing route network of over 200 destinations – more than any UK airport outside London.

“One thing we’ve seen in recent years is that despite pressures on household budgets, people really value their holidays and prioritise them; we’ve actually seen more people choosing to elevate their airport experience by choosing to use our lounges – and now they can go one step further and choose to fly from aether.

“aether is an incredibly exciting addition to the range of premium options available here at Manchester Airport, and it’s great to see how well it’s been received already.”

With impressive facilities springing up at airports, it remains to be seen if passengers will forgo ever harder-to-attain loyalty programs with the crowded terminals and instead pay for premium lounges or private terminals. For many business travelers, choosing the best schedule and being assured of an efficient and relaxing experience will trump any status benefits.

Source link

Business

Earnings calls citing ‘AI’ surge in 2025 as ‘uncertainty’ mentions fade

Published

3 minutes ago

December 15, 2025

Jace Porter

Good morning. CEOs and CFOs are clearly focused on AI—it is the most-used term in S&P 500 earnings calls this year.

FactSet examined conference call transcripts for all S&P 500 companies that held earnings calls from September 15 through December 4 and found that the term “AI” was cited on 306 calls. This is the highest number of S&P 500 earnings calls on which “AI” has been cited over the past 10 years; the previous record was 292 in Q2 2025, according to John Butters, VP and senior earnings analyst at FactSet. In addition, the 306 figure is significantly above the five-year average of 136 and the 10-year average of 86.

At the sector level, information technology (95%) and communication services (95%) sectors have the highest percentages of earnings calls citing “AI” for Q3.

In addition, S&P 500 companies that cited “AI” on their Q3 earnings calls have seen a higher average price increase than those that did not—since Dec. 31, 2024 (13.9% vs. 5.7%), June 30, 2025 (8.1% vs. 3.9%), and Sept. 30, 2025 (1.0% vs. 0.3%).

Navigating uncertainty

Besides AI, another term I was curious about is “uncertainty,” so I asked Butters for his take. He analyzed S&P 500 earnings calls (per quarter) in which the term “uncertainty” was cited at least once, going back to 2020. He found that, similar to the pattern seen with “tariff” citations, mentions of “uncertainty” spiked in Q1 2025 but declined significantly over the following two quarters. In Q1 2025, there were 415 mentions of “uncertainty,” compared to 282 in Q2 and 201 in Q3.

Following President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” earlier this year, significant uncertainty emerged around the new administration’s economic and geopolitical agenda, Yuval Atsmon, CFO at McKinsey, recently told me. Atsmon explained that at the peak of uncertainty, his focus as a CFO was on identifying actions that would be helpful in any scenario. “The worst thing is inaction,” he added. Acting on what you can control builds resilience, he said.

Operating in uncertainty has seemingly become a constant, which may help explain why explicit mentions of the term have tapered off during earnings calls. While uncertainty often drives defensive moves, Atsmon emphasized the importance of revisiting long-standing strategies and seizing competitive opportunities.

Global AI spending is expected to climb in 2026, and it is likely that “AI” will remain a top term in Q4 earnings calls in January as companies discuss investment, margins, capex, and productivity.

SherylEstrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Neil Berkley was promoted to CFO of Alector, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALEC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company. Berkley has served as Alector’s chief business officer (CBO) since March 2024, and CBO and interim CFO since June 2025. He is a biotech executive with more than two decades of experience leading corporate strategy, finance, business development, and operations across both early- and late-stage companies.

Caleb Noel was promoted to EVP and CFO of NFP, an Aon company, a property and casualty broker and benefits consultant. Noel has served in various corporate finance and operational roles during his 23-year career with NFP, most recently as SVP of finance and operations. He previously served as VP of finance for Scottish Holdings, a division of Scottish Re, and as an analyst in the investment banking division of Prudential Securities (now Wells Fargo & Company).

Big Deal

CFOs have a long-term focus when it comes to AI, according to research by RGP, a global professional services firm. The report, “The AI Foundational Divide: From Ambition to Readiness,” describes a finance landscape that is racing toward an AI-powered future yet constrained by issues such as fragile data foundations.

Although 66% of CFOs surveyed expect significant AI ROI within two years, only 14% report meaningful value today. However, optimism persists despite key obstacles to AI ROI, including deep structural barriers such as data trust issues (only 10% fully trust enterprise data), technical debt (86% say legacy systems limit AI readiness), and skills shortages that threaten to slow adoption.

The findings are based on insights from 200 U.S. CFOs at enterprises with more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Sectors include technology, health care, financial services, and CPG/retail.

Going deeper

A new episode of “This Week in Business,” a Wharton podcast, focuses on AI and technological evolution. Lynn Wu, a Wharton associate professor of operations, information and decisions, addresses the rise of transformative technologies and the cycles of tech bubbles throughout history. Wu discusses where AI fits within these cycles, describing it as a necessary phase of technological evolution that lays the groundwork for transformative advancements across industries.

Overheard

“In the end, consumers will win if courts and enforcers act based on evidence.”

—Satya Marar, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, writes in a Fortune opinion piece titled “Netflix, Warner, Paramount and antitrust: Entertainment megadeal’s outcome must follow the evidence, not politics or fear of integration.” Marar specializes in competition, innovation, and governance, and is an AI and antitrust fellow at the Innovators Network.

Source link

Business

Unlimited vacation policies can work—it just depends on where employees are based

Published

34 minutes ago

December 15, 2025

Jace Porter

For years, the prevailing theory amongst workers about “unlimited vacation” is that it actually encourages workers to take less time off. Without the entitlement to a set number of days, employees can feel awkward requesting days off, or worried that doing so will make them look less committed to work.

But a new study from payroll and HR platform Deel finds it’s less about specific PTO policies than about culture. It all depends on where you live, says Lauren Thomas, the startup’s economist.

On average, European employees with unlimited vacation policies took four more days off than their counterparts with fixed time off this year—27 vs. 23. But in North America, there was hardly a difference, as both those with unlimited and fixed vacation policies averaged about 17.

“Americans and Canadians are definitely getting less time off, even when you only look at fixed time, than Europeans are,” Thomas said. “That is a combination of policy and culture.”

In fact, Canadian workers are taking less time off than those in the U.S. Thomas said this is because 77% of U.S. workers have access to paid vacation, while just 73% of Canadians do, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Statistics Canada data.

But Americans and Canadians who work for companies that span the Atlantic do take more time off than their counterparts working for companies that do not have hires in Europe, Thomas said.

“I think companies need to think really carefully about how much productivity they’re really getting when they’re requiring so much [working] time from their employees,” she said. “At the end of the day, we know that time off is important for productivity, it’s important for making a good company, it’s also really important for attracting talent.”

Which cities are best at encouraging workers to take time off to rest and recharge? Stockholm, Berlin or Paris, where Thomas found employees took 25 or more days off this year.

Kristin Stoller
Editorial Director, Fortune Live Media
kristin.stoller@fortune.com

Around the Table

A round-up of the most important HR headlines.

The Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, was hit with a $11.5 million verdict after a former employee accused the trade group of racial discrimination and retaliation. Business Insider

As jobs get more niche, it has become harder for workers to explain exactly what they do to family and friends. Wall Street Journal

OpenAI says its tools save workers roughly 40 to 60 minutes per day, and has helped improve either the speed or quality of their work. Bloomberg

Watercooler

Everything you need to know from Fortune.

Leaning out. For the first time in a decade, fewer women than men are interested in getting a promotion at work. —Sasha Rogelberg

Interview test. Gagan Biyani, CEO of the education platform Maven, says he gives candidates live feedback during job interviews to see how they react. —Orianna Rosa Royle

Manager shake-up. As AI agents are automating busy work, some managerial drudgery can be avoided—but human interaction is still essential. —Beatrice Nolan

Source link

Business

Crypto wallets now feel a lot more like Venmo

Published

1 hour ago

December 15, 2025

Jace Porter

Crypto wallets are having a moment. The latest example is Kalshi announcing an integration with Phantom to offer event contracts to the wallet’s 15 million users. While the prediction market angle is intriguing (these markets are a HUGE story right now), the news also highlights the light-speed advancements taking place in the wallet realm.

Consider how, just three years ago, the only thing you could do with Phantom was access the Solana blockchain. MetaMask, meanwhile, was limited to Ethereum. Sure, alternatives like Coinbase Wallet offered access to more assets but, like other wallets of the time, it suffered from a ghastly interface that required users to run a gauntlet of sub-nets, confusing gas fees, and more. The experience was miserable for crypto natives. For everyone else, it was nigh impossible.

Then something changed. After years of promises, developers finally succeeded in pushing the clunky technical elements to the background, while adding a host of practical features. The result has been an uptick in useful real-world applications, including Phantom’s Kalshi offering, and also in souped-up new offerings like Coinbase’s rebranded Base as well as Robinhood Wallet.

This new generation of wallets offers the best aspects of decentralized crypto by making the customers the ultimate custodians of their assets. At the same time, they offer interfaces that are starting to feel like Venmo or online banking apps—which should be table stakes for any of these products looking to break into the mainstream. The question now is where these wallets will fit in day-to-day life. Will they become the successor to web browsers, as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and others have predicted, or will they be something else entirely?

JP Richardson is the founder and CEO of Exodus, another leading wallet that recently added a suite of stablecoin payment tools. He told me the browser analogy doesn’t really fit, arguing wallets are better seen as a superior type of banking app—one that will be able to bridge disparate financial services. “We believe it should not be three apps, it should be one app. Why can’t you take your brokerage app, and tap and buy groceries?” he asked.

Trevor Traina, the founder of a wallet called Kresus, whose customers include Sotheby’s auction house, has another take. He believes the tools will have a much broader footprint. He sees a world where wallets are not just for managing our assets, but also become repositories for vital documents such as a will, insurance, or a law license.

The technology is certainly there to support Traina’s vision. That includes blockchains, which can supply a permanent and tamper-proof ledger, but also newer privacy tools like zero-knowledge proofs. Together, this tech provides a way to safeguard all of one’s personal data, while also being able to meet the constant need to show identification that modern life demands. All of this could get more interesting still if wallets like Sam Altman’s World App, which includes an anti-bot biometric layer, get more traction.

Now for the cold water: Just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come—or come anytime soon at least. I spoke with analyst James Wester, one of the shrewder observers of the crypto and fintech scene, and he pointed out that the idea of an “everything app” has been around for years but shows few signs of getting adopted. A big reason for this is inertia.

Right now, our existing apps and payment tools work pretty well, so it’s unlikely we’ll see mass wallet adoption anytime soon without some sort of external nudge. Wester points out that Apple Pay and Google Pay have been around for a decade, yet a huge number of people keep paying with physical cards—because they can. This will change as younger people who are well versed in tech and crypto make up a greater portion of the economy. But until then, wallet makers may have to find a way to make their suddenly attractive products downright irresistible.

Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts

DECENTRALIZED NEWS

Stablecoins at YouTube: In a landmark moment for crypto in mainstream commerce, YouTube is now giving U.S. creators on the platform the option to receive payment in the form of PayPal’s stablecoin PYUSD. (Fortune)

Circle’s new privacy coin: Stablecoin giant Circle is working with an upstart blockchain called Aleo to issue a spin-off of its flagship token called USDCx, which will let banking clients obscure private transaction histories. (Fortune)

Charters for all: The OCC issued national trust bank charters to Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos and Fidelity Digital Assets. The move comes amid a broader move by the agency to issue more such charters, which do not allow taking customer deposits or accessing FDIC insurance. (Axios)

Tokenization tipping point? The SEC issued a no-action letter to the DTCC, which will let the country’s main clearing house custody stocks on the blockchain. The permission applies only to 1,000 of the most liquid stocks, but is a key first step for what is likely to be a wholesale shift toward putting custody and record keeping on-chain. (Bloomberg)

Think I’ll buy me a football team: Tether, whose CEO is Italian and a lifetime fan of Juventus, made a bid to buy the storied football club. Its board rebuffed the offer even as the publicly-traded club struggles to keep up with financial dominance of Premier League teams and Real Madrid. (Reuters)

MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WEEK

Do Kwon in Podgorica, Montenegro, in 2024—before he was extradited to the U.S.

Filip Filipovic—Getty Images

Do Kwon is arguably the second most notorious fraudster in crypto history. Now, the Terra Luna founder, known for his “steady lads” rallying cry, will get to test how steady he is after a U.S. judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison. If it’s any consolation, this earns him Fortune Crypto’s weekly Main Character designation.