The upscale Dan Hotels group operates a number of branded Dan Lounges throughout the Ben Gurion International Airport Terminal Three at Tel Aviv, Israel. While the Dan Hotels Group has many properties as part of the Leading Hotels of the World brand, it would be among the first hotel chain lounges that I’ve seen in the airport space. Our visit to the Dan Lounge would allow us to test out their facilities prior to our Turkish Airlines flight. Were the lounges as upscale as their Dan hotels were marketed to be?

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Jordan, Israel and France during the end of the pandemic. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: The Dan Lounge, “C” Concourse, Terminal 3 – Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel

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The Dan Lounge Ben Gurion Tel Aviv is run by the Dan Hotels group of Israel. The Dan Hotels Group has several hotel properties affiliated within the Leading Hotels of The World brand.

The Dan Hotels chain comprises 18 Deluxe hotels within Israel and one in Bengaluru India, totalling 4,050 rooms. The Israel Ministry of Tourism has rated the majority of the chain’s hotels as First Class and the rest as Tourist Class. On top of this, Dan Hotels manages and operates five business lounges and a VIP lounge at Ben Gurion Airport.

Our departure flight today was on Turkish Airlines Business Class Tel Aviv – Istanbul. Since Turkish Airlines doesn’t have it’s own lounge at Ben Gurion International Airport, we would end up using The Dan Lounge in “C” Concourse.

Checking into Turkish Airlines Business Class:

We departed a great stay at The Sheraton Tel Aviv via a Blacklane car. While I wasn’t sure whether we would need to pre-arrange a car due to travelling on the shabbat (Saturday), it was a really convenient way to get to the airport.

We arrived to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport – Terminal Three. After a brief drop off, we headed inside past a giant sculptured bust of past prime minister Ben Gurion.

David Ben Gurion was the former prime minster of Israel and a previous minister of defence. There is a unique statement on the plaque of this statute that reads:

“Conquering the sky is not just a matter of security… …spiritual, political and economic independence is not possible without command of the sky”

It is certainly an interesting quote for a country that is surrounded by the Gaza Strip, the country of Syria and friends and foes through the region.

We had a scripted security check before we arrive to the Turkish Airlines podiums with general behavioural observation questions and general questions about our travels and purpose of our trip.

We checked in with Turkish Airlines. We had a much smoother check in experience this time around without any frantic last minute approvals. Turkish Airlines was still unable to get my Air Canada Aeroplan number attached to my reservation due to a minor last name punctuation issue. They didn’t provide a lounge voucher or directions to the lounge and sent us on our way with our boarding cards for both Turkish Airlines Business Class Tel Aviv – Istanbul and Turkish Airlines Business Class Istanbul – Paris.

With boarding cards in hand, we headed off to The Dan Lounge.

Locating The Dan Lounge:

There are several Dan Lounge locations throughout Ben Gurion Terminal Three. Unless you’re flying the national carrier El Al, the Dan Lounge is the only publicly available alternative in terms of a business lounge throughout the entire Ben Gurion Terminal Three building.

We cleared security screening without any delay and headed down the long walkway towards the circular terminal building. It was surprisingly quiet this early in the morning for a major international airport, and we had the place to ourselves.

After a quick spin through duty free, and since our departure gate was at B6, we initially headed down towards the “B” Concourse towards the Dan Lounge located at Gate B4.

Unfortunately, we found the Dan Lounge there completely closed up, with a door sign indicating we should attend to the “C” Concourse Lounge.

We eventually made it over to the Dan Lounge at the “C” Concourse, where there was a small queue to enter.

For the most part, the Dan Lounge was pretty easy to find. There are limited places to get lost within the Ben Gurion International Airport. As long as you head out on the concourse finger, you should come across the lounge fairly easily.

Accessing the Dan Lounge:

The Dan Lounge is affiliated with Priority Pass with is available through select credit cards memberships including The American Express Platinum Card and Mastercard World Elite credit cards that include a Lounge Key membership.

On our visit, this information wasn’t posted outside of the lounge in any meaningful way. There seemed to be a lot of confused guests trying to enter the lounge, which took up a great deal of the reception’s time trying to sort out their eligibility to access The Dan Lounge.

While the Dan Lounge is affiliated with the Dan Hotels group, there doesn’t appear to be any direct booking of the lounge through the hotel itself, and vice versa.

I eventually gained access to the lounge today after presenting our Turkish Airlines Business Class Tel Aviv – Istanbul boarding card. Once our entry was confirmed, we were invited in.

Inside The Dan Lounge:

The Dan Lounge occupies a long rectangular space along the walls of the Ben Gurion Concourse “C” walkways. The Dan Lounge describes their place as “an intimate, pleasant environment”. I’d say that they got that description pretty much right.

Immediately upon entering the lounge, you find yourself in them middle of the lounge space with lounge chairs and a bank of lounge seating running down the middle of the lounge. The space itself is limited in nature, and you’ll likely end up being selective in terms of finding a space to sit.

On the outer flank near the windows, you’ll find a double row of single chairs against the booth seats, and up against the glass. This arrangement allows for a lot of single travellers to get views of the window as much as possible. It’s in contrast to many lounges that offer seating groups of four near the windows; often with one or two travellers taking up the entire bank of four chairs.

The lounge decor was neutral contemporary, and contained pretty basic colours that will likely stand the test of time.

Heading towards the back of the lounge, there were additional lounge chairs and table and chairs seating. We found seating in this area, which was in a dead end and a bit of a quieter part of the lounge.

At the very opposite end of the lounge, there was a small magazine area and a food service area. The food service area had a small amount of tables and chairs.

There was also a flight display section that had an eclectic series of destinations on the board, along with a variety of airline carriers. During my visit, I tested out the complimentary wifi and it worked smoothly and quickly.

The lounge seating itself was fairly compact given the number of travellers passing through The Dan Lounge. While we didn’t have any serious challenges in locating a place to sit, there wasn’t a lot of surplus room. The thin rectangular nature of the lounge also meant that the space tended to fill up quickly. At times during our visit, The Dan Lounge easily reached full capacity.

Food and Beverage:

The Dan Lounge described their food selection as “a diverse self service buffet”. Again, they were pretty accurate in that assessment. During our breakfast hour visit, there were a number of cereals out

There were also Mediterranean breakfast items, along with yoghurt and olives. There were also the usual baked goods.

While the food offered seemed reasonable, I didn’t find the look of it or the diversity of it all to appealing. Notably absent were any hot items from the buffet with only cold items on offer. Perhaps this was just me, but I ended up skipping the buffet and waiting for the plane food.

I would end up staying for about an hour prior to getting ready to depart on our Turkish Airlines Business Class Tel Aviv – Istanbul flight.

My Thoughts on The Dan Lounge:

The Dan Lounge offers a branded lounge that is associated with the upscale Dan Hotels chain of Israel.

While the lounge offered an average place as an alternative to the terminal to spend some time prior to a flight, the seating often filled up and the lounge has some what of a compact footprint. As long as you get get your early pick of seat, and are okay with some elementary food options, this place will have you covered for your pre flight time departing Tel Aviv, Israel.

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If you’ve visited The Dan Lounge – Tel Aviv, did you associate it with the luxury Dan Hotels brand ?

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