The Marhaba Lounge in Changi Airport’s Terminal 1 is a shared, third‑party space that a variety of airlines use for their Business Class passengers. Instead of being tied to just one carrier, it acts as a contract lounge, so you’ll see travellers from several different airlines passing through.
On top of that, it’s open to people with lounge‑access memberships, and in my case that meant Priority Pass. As such, it was a handy option for finding a comfortable spot to relax and grab a bite.
Location
The Marhaba Lounge is located on Level 3 of the departure transit area, just after immigration. If you know where the Qantas First lounge is, you’ll find it nearby. In fact, you’ll have to walk past the Qantas First lounge to get there.
Basically, once you clear immigration, turn right and you’ll see a signpost to the lounge just near the first set of escalators on your left. Take the escalators up, and at the top of the escalator, turn right. Walk past the entrance to the Qantas First Lounge and the Marhaba Lounge will be directly ahead.
Access
A number of airlines use the Marhaba Lounge as a contract lounge for their Business customers. Based on the signage at the lounge, this appeared to include the likes of China Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, SriLankan Airlines, and Myanmar National Airlines.
Members of the following access programs can also access the lounge:
- Priority Pass.
- Lounge Key,
- DragonPass.
Inside the Lounge
The Marhaba lounge is basically one long rectangular space that’s been split into three main areas. Right behind the reception desk there’s a coffee bar and drinks area with some high tables. If you head to the far left behind reception, you’ll find the dining section. On the other hand, if you turn right, you’ll see the main seating area stretching all the way down to the end of the lounge.
Seating
As mentioned, most of the seating is located to the right after you enter the lounge. Of that, the seating is mostly armchair style seating.
An interesting feature (or at least I found it interesting) are the views that you get from this lounge. In the above photo, on the right side you can see a view of the airports food court. On the left, however, you get a view of a small indoor plated courtyard. It’s quite a peaceful view.
There’s a few different seating configurations around the lounge. Some are suitable for small groups, and others for couples.
Toward the far end of the lounge, there are a couple of high tables. If you need to do some work on your laptop, these may be your best option. I didn’t otherwise see a business centre around the lounge.
Back near the bar, you’ll find a few more high tables, although in this case they are more designed for drinking. That said, there are plenty of charging outlets around so you can top up your devices.
Right down the left hand side, past the buffet, the dining area is to be found. This includes another high table, in addition to more traditional dining style seating.
Food and Beverage
Food
The dining area, like I mentioned earlier, sits over on the far left once you walk in. The buffet is set up in a sort of L‑shape along the right-hand wall, so everything’s easy to spot as soon as you step inside.
The hot dishes are laid out in standard buffet trays. There was a small selection, and I guess it changes day to day. In one section there was a choice of sweet and sour fish, kadai vegetables and machbous chicken.
On the other side of the rice cooker there were two more dishes – the suateed beans and carrots and tortellini pasta.
For me, one standout was the noodle bar. While you had to construct the dish yourself, I found them pretty decent.
A selection of fresh fruit was also available, together with some salads.
Finally, if you have a bit of a sweet tooth, there is a small selection of cakes and biscuits to choose from.
Beverages
One of the things that helps transform the lounge from a mere waiting area is the drinks on offer. As with the food, we are pretty much in self-service territory. That said, there are some basic spirits on offer. As the picture below shows, Beefeater gin, Bacardi rum, Chivas whiskey, and Absolute vodka were on offer.
As shown above, the wines on offer were from Somerton, so what you might call “accessible,easy-drinking” wines. On the white wine front , they were offering Somerton Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.
Looking in the fridge, you’ll also find a mix of juices, soft drinks, and a few canned beers like Tiger and Heineken. I couldn’t help noticing that the soft drink lineup (Coke, Sprite, tonic) reads like a ready‑made set of mixers for the above liquor.
Sticking to the self-service theme, there was an automated coffee machine. Actually, there are two, but one was out of service. Anyway, it’s basically press some buttons to get your choice of beverage. Aside from the coffee, there was also a range of Dilmah tea bags.
Other Amenities
Showers and toilets
There are four unisex showers tucked away at the back of the lounge, right past the dining area, alongside the toilets.
Reading Material
When it comes to reading material, there were a few magazines around. They may be of interest to some, but nothing that really stood out for me.
Final Words
The Marhaba lounge was pretty quiet when I was there. As such, it was a fairly calm and unhurried. The food was solid, if not exactly gourmet.
There was a reasonable selection of beverages for a contract lounge. As the drinks were pretty much self-service, alcohol offerings, all of which are free for lounge guests. Again, there was nothing amazing about the drinks, but there were no real limits on what was there.
Overall, I found it a comfortable place to spend an hour or so waiting for my flight.
