Nothing usually comes up well when you have the word VIP or First Class in the name of a contract lounge. It just feels like you are trying too hard and stressing too much about it. You got to give it to China lounges and their naming. They always try to have numbers, VIP, and First Class in their name. What’s with the 25? It doesn’t speak bespoke or luxury. I do appreciate having a facility to use at the airport, especially in the late hours. This allows me to prevent spending on overpriced food and drinks at an airport. It should also be nicer than the general airport most of the time unless you are in Singapore Changi Airport!

 

Access Requirements

The VIP Lounge 25 is open daily from 6.20am to 11pm. You can access this restaurant via a lounge program membership like Priority Pass. I have an unlimited Priority Pass through my Citi Prestige Card or my UOB Reserve Card and I use that to access the lounge. Do note that Citi Prestige will no longer offers unlimited access after 1 July. A normal entrance will cost 35 USD via PP. Typical guest entitlements follow.

Arrival & Location

You can find clear signs leading to the lounge. In reality, the lounge is open until much later than what was stated on Priority Pass. The staff made some comments about entering via Priority Pass when I was there. I was told that I can only stay until 11pm. It seems rather weird to have such a restriction. If I am already in, why not let me stay until closing? Anyway, it is not even up to the maximum time limit since I got it at around 9.30pm or so. It was a rather nonchalant arrival as the staff didn’t even give a brief introduction or anything. We had to explore ourselves and only knew that there was a dining room later on. We originally thought that the lounge was just where we were. 

VIP Lounge 25

The lounge opens up to the terminal in the main area. You can see it immediately after heading up the escalator. It is quite a nice area and very spacious. It feels like the 5th floor has been cordoned off for this lounge. It does look pretty good. Here are some pictures of the main area. Power outlets can be found near the seating. Wi-FI is available but you do need to scan your ID to verify before getting a code. Furthermore, the usual restriction applies. I am not too sure about those metal seats as they are rather uncomfortable. There are drinks stations littered around the lounge. 

They also seems to have a very nice bar area and counter space but it is not used at the time of my arrival. It felt like they have come up with numerous concepts but didn’t fully utilize it.

We found the dining room which is the most crowded part of the lounge. This is a given since most of the refreshments are located here. In the dining room, you can find dining tables with sofa and metal seats. Again, these are so uncomfortable. It was quite hard to find an empty seat.

There are no showers in the lounge. They do have their toilets which were unmemorable. 

Food and Drinks

This is probably the most impressive part of the lounge. It did score pretty high for a contract lounge. You can find a dining area here with meals available. There is a sign that shows Breakfast being served from 7am to 9.30am, lunch from 11am to 2pm and dinner from 5pm to 9pm. Dining is a mixture of live stations and buffet line up. You can also find some prepackaged snacks, cup noodles and some fruits. 

The live station was serving up some noodles and wantons. While they did say that dinners end at 9pm. It was closer to 10pm. I still managed to get some meals slightly before 10pm. The food is decent and pretty delicious.

The non-alcoholic drinks are pretty impressive. They had various canned drinks, bottled water and bottled teas. You can also find some beers here too. 

Conclusion

You don’t have a choice over here in Terminal 4. This is the only contract lounge available here in the international departures area. It is nice to be able to access this with a lounge program. It is certainly not an amazing lounge or one that you should come early for. It is nice being able to get some food and drinks while waiting for your flight. Most of the airports are overpriced. It is nice to pop by before my overnight flight. Handy before my Scoot flight.