Priority Pass's 2026 Pioneer awards go to a calm room in Brazil and greener lounges in Saudi Arabia and Spain

Priority Pass has announced the final winners of its 2026 Excellence Awards. On Oct. 1, the lounge network named three Pioneer of the Year lounges and three All Star of the Year staff members. These two categories close out this year's awards. The Lounge of the Year winners came out in May, when Portland's Escape Lounge was named the best lounge in the world.

Unlike Lounge of the Year, these awards are not based on member ratings. Priority Pass says a judging panel picked the winners from nominations sent in by its lounge partners. You can read the full announcement from Priority Pass.

The three Pioneer of the Year lounges

The Pioneer award goes to lounges that try something new to make travel better. This year, all three winners are outside the US.

BRT Lounge Porto Seguro, Porto Seguro Airport, Brazil. This lounge has a Calm Room. It is a quiet space where neurodivergent travelers can reset before a flight. One of the judges singled it out as the idea that stayed with them most. The judge said the team built the lounge around the people who actually fly through Porto Seguro, a popular beach destination in Bahia. The lounge recently grew by 500 square meters, adding a playground and other family areas, according to Alô Alô Bahia. BRT says this is the second year in a row Priority Pass has recognized the lounge.

Cozaya Lounge, King Fahd International Airport, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Priority Pass says this team has made sustainability part of daily work. It has cut food waste and removed single-use plastics. Staff are also trained to work in greener ways without making the guest experience worse.

A Coruña Sala VIP Lounge, A Coruña Airport, Spain. Here the green thinking is in the room itself. Its sound panels are made from recycled plastic bottles. Spanish airport operator Aena puts the count at 2,831. Displays explain the materials used around the space. Aena says a recent rebuild more than doubled the lounge, from 30 seats to 68. Priority Pass says guest satisfaction went up after the changes, but it did not share numbers.

The three All Stars of the Year

The All Star award honors lounge staff who go well beyond the job for Priority Pass members.

• Tran Minh Quang, SH Premium Lounge Hanoi 2, Noi Bai International Airport, Vietnam. He is a shift leader. Priority Pass praised his calm leadership and personal touch. It says he handled a medical emergency, remembers what regular guests like, and created signature lounge experiences. His work also helped cut waiting times.
• Abdulaziz Fahad Alharbi, Cozaya Lounge, King Fahd International Airport, Saudi Arabia. He is a team leader at the same lounge that won a Pioneer award. Priority Pass credits him with many fixes for guests, from comfort and organization to reliability.
• Miao Shu Na, Oriental Club Lounge, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. She is a supervisor. Priority Pass highlighted her care for guests, including the help she gave a child who had been burned.

Collinson International, which owns Priority Pass, said the winners show the care and creativity behind a good lounge visit. Its CEO, Christopher Evans, congratulated all of this year's winners.

How this fits with the rest of the 2026 awards

The May awards were the ones based on more than 700,000 member ratings. Those results have more for US travelers:

• Global Lounge of the Year: the Escape Lounge at Portland International.
• Highly commended in North America: the Escape Lounge in Kansas City.
• Brazil: the Advantage VIP Lounge in Campinas was highly commended, and the Advantage VIP Lounge in São Paulo was named One to Watch for the Americas.
• Italy: the VIP Lounge Angelo D'Arrigo in Catania was named One to Watch for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

What it means for Priority Pass members

None of the October winners are in places most US travelers pass through often. Still, the awards point to where lounges are heading. Quiet rooms for people who find airports overwhelming are rare today. Low-waste lounges are also still the exception. If these ideas spread, they could show up in more of the network.

Priority Pass now says it offers more than 1,900 lounges and other airport experiences at 865 airports in 143 countries. Access depends on how you got your membership. Many premium credit cards include it, but each card sets its own rules for visits and guests. You can see which lounges take Priority Pass on our Priority Pass page.

Priority Pass has not said whether winning lounges will change their hours, access rules or guest fees.