• The announcement follows the recent news of Sumit Prakash being appointed Country Director, India and South Asia, as Collinson continues to invest in this key region.
  
• Building on their 16-year legacy in India, Collinson launched Priority Pass Access India earlier this year, a domestic lounge experiences programme dedicated to the India market.
  
• Investment in India also sees Collinson partner with local Indian brands, PineLabs and PoshVine, to further enable issuing banks to deliver enhanced travel experiences and benefits to their customers. 

INDIA – 14 DECEMBER 2022: Collinson, owner and operators of the original and market-leading airport experiences programme Priority Pass, has promoted Saurabh Malhotra to Director Partnerships, South Asia and Indochina. Under the regional leadership of Suzanne Wong, Director of Commercial Partnerships for Asia Pacific, and working closely with Sumit Prakash, who’s expanded role was recently announced, Saurabh will continue to identify and strengthen new partnerships that deliver greater value to Collinson’s clients and their cardholders in key APAC markets, including India, Thailand and Vietnam.  

The India market and wider South Asia region continues to be recognised for its importance by Collinson. Recent partnerships in the market include collaborations with homegrown brands including PineLabs and PoshVine; alongside winning the partnership with Visa India for the recently launched domestic travel experiences programme, Priority Pass Access India. The programme proudly offers Indian cardholders access to domestic and international terminal lounges located in key cities across India, with the option to add-on access to Priority Pass’s global lounge network of 1,300 lounges and experiences – all through one provider.   

On the appointment of Saurabh Malhotra as Director Partnerships, South Asia and Indochina, Sumit Prakash, Country Director, India and South Asia said: “Recognising Saurabh as an extremely skilled individual who holds over 14 years of experience across strategic partnerships, business development, and product benefits management, we’re delighted to expand Saurabh’s role to enable him to further contribute to designing and implementing market and partnership-building initiatives. Following three impressive years with Collinson, most of which were during the pandemic, I have every confidence that Saurabh will continue orchestrating strategic and value-adding partnerships that provide ease of travel to our clients’ customers and additional value to our partners in this incredible region.” 

About Saurabh Malhotra, Director Partnerships, South Asia and Indochina 

Saurabh is an experienced payments professional with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services and payments industry. Skilled in business development, developing and managing strategic partnerships and customer relationships, Saurabh is a strong entrepreneurship professional with a Masters in Business Administration focused in Marketing from IBS. 

“Being associated with a customer-first brand like Collinson has been a wonderful experience to date, and I feel elated to be awarded with this enhanced role. Collinson’s endeavour to better support our domestic markets – especially where travel has returned at an incredible pace – is exciting. I look forward to continuing to provide our clients with opportunities to better reward their customers each time they travel with ease and convenience through strong and inspiring partnerships”, says Saurabh Malhotra. 

Prior to this appointment, Saurabh was Collinson’s Partnership Director for India and South Asia for close to three years. Earlier in his career, Saurabh worked with industry giants such as PineLabs and American Express in roles encompassing business development, partnerships, and product benefits management. 

About Priority Pass 

Priority Pass is the original and market-leading airport experiences programme operated by Collinson. It provides discerning frequent travellers access to 1,300 lounges and experiences in over 650 airports across 148 countries, including a growing number of airport dining and spa offerings worldwide that can be accessed in the same way as lounges. Using the Priority Pass app for iOS and Android, members can quickly and easily discover locations welcoming Priority Pass, instantly check their visit entitlement and use their Digital Membership Card to access airport lounges and experiences. 

Priority Pass celebrates its 30^th birthday this year.  

About Collinson 

Collinson is a global leader in customer benefits and loyalty solutions that win deeper, more valuable customer relationships. We deliver exceptional travel, loyalty and insurance products designed to help companies differentiate their value propositions. 

Our customer benefits products include the original and market-leading airport experiences programme, Priority Pass, as well as travel insurance, identity assistance, flight delay and international health solutions. Our loyalty expertise uniquely combines strategy, award-winning technology, and programme management to create greater engagement and experiences for our clients’ customers.  

For over 30 years, we’ve been chosen by the world’s leading payment networks, 1,400+ banks, 90+ airlines and 20+ hotel groups to craft customer experiences for over 400m end consumers, that win competitive edge. This enables them to acquire, engage and retain the most profitable, but most demanding customers Our clients include Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Air France KLM, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Accor, Radisson, Chase, HSBC, Revolut, Sephora and UnionPay. 

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