The Most Luxurious Way to Watch a Movie

Martini glasses full of candies, plump electric reclining sofa chairs and dinner served at the precisely the moment you want it. Sounds too good to be true?Welcome to the Gold Class section of your local movie cinema.

Going to see a movie at a cinema isn’t really a luxurious experience. In fact, when you think of it, you’re squashed in seats where you share arms rests with strangers and you are only allowed to enjoy a limited selection of junk food for which there is nowhere to place it but your lap or the floor most of the time. But people tend to put up with it, as it’s pretty much the only option to see the latest movies.

I only heard about “Gold Class” seating when I came to Australia; Canadian box offices certainly didn’t office the service when I was there last year.

So for those who have had enough with the sticky seats, unhealthy food and need their space to relax, be ready to be astounded with “Gold Class”.

When you first enter the cinema, you don’t need to wait in the massive lines in order to get your tickets. Just like at a fancy restaurant, reservations for a specific show need to be made and tickets need to be pre-ordered online. And since the Gold Class area is placed right up front in the cinema, before the ticket counter, you also don’t need to pass through the busy theatre to get to it. You are met at the entrance by a concierge who welcomes you and checks his database for your reservation. Once confirmed, he motions you to the chic waiting lounge, adorned with candles on the tables, comfy chairs and a classy bar, where you can wait until you movie is ready to start.

It’s so great that this premium service has started with such a hassle free way to start their experience.

Before the movie started, we figured we ought to order some food and drinks. We went to the bar in the back and were duly impressed with the array of premium options we had for dinner. We ordered Bruschetta with Feta and Pesto, and a plate of Calamari with Wedges. To complement the food, we ordered two glasses of the house red. We figured that this would be enough food and amazingly passed up on the cheesecake and other featured deserts (though I was kicking myself afterwards for not ordering one of the cool chocolate filled martini glasses).

We were especially impressed with the ability to pre-order this food and have it delivered at any point in the movie. We could even have a cappucino delivered to us 30 minutes before the movie ended. This is a level of luxury that even beats the comforts of your own home.

Having placed our order for dinner, we moved to the small cinema room. It had only about thirty to forty seats as opposed to the hundred or so seats in a traditional box office cinema. Massively plump sofa chairs, with tons of leg room, were grouped in two’s and had a table in between with a wine bottle holder. The sofa chairs were electric recliners and you could recline to the point you are pretty much horizontal should you want to.The movie-watching part of the experience was pretty standard, apart from the complete absence of screaming kids and loud teenagers. I’m sure by this point, you are wondering the cost of this experience. It really isn’t that bad. At $35 per person (plus food and drinks), it’s only about twice as much as the standard ticket price. The food and wine were also not exhorbant and pretty much matched the cost of going out to dine.

“Gold Class” Cinemas is an example of how a company can turn a traditionally mediocre service to an experience that can really fill some of the service gaps you never knew you missed and redefine the whole “going out for a movie” concept for you.

Even I admit that now that I’ve been pampered with the gold class cinema experience, it’s going to be hard to go back to sharing my armchair rest with strangers again.

Here is the Gold Class website : http://www.greaterunion.com.au/goldclass/