DreamFolks Services Ltd expects to return to the revenue levels it achieved before the disruption to its domestic airport lounge business by 2030, but with a markedly different business mix, as the former lounge aggregator expands into travel and lifestyle benefits for customers, chairperson Liberatha Kallat told Mint.
After exiting its domestic airport lounge business last year, DreamFolks is rebuilding around a wider basket of travel and lifestyle benefits for premium credit-card customers, ranging from five-star meals and spas to airport transfers, golf and railway lounges.
The pivot comes after the company lost the core of a business that once contributed more than 90% of its revenue. DreamFolks’ revenue from operations nearly halved to ₹660.56 crore in FY26 from ₹1,291.88 crore in FY25, while net profit attributable to owners plunged 82.3% to ₹11.56 crore. Its shares have fallen about 50% since the company announced its exit from the domestic airport lounge business in September last year, underperforming the Nifty, which declined about 7% during the same period.
India's credit card transaction value is expected to grow from approximately 21 trillion in FY25 to 54 trillion in FY30, representing a CAGR of around 21%. While transaction volumes are expected to increase to nearly 13 billion, the chair said in an investor call on 13 August.
The reset
“Earlier our business contribution from Indian airports was more than 90% and that was our core,” Kallat said. “With this disruption that has impacted, however as a company we have pivoted and we are no more just a travel benefit but it is travel and lifestyle.”
The domestic lounge business came under pressure after major operators, including Encalm, which operates lounges at GMR airports such as Delhi, and Adani’s Semolina Kitchens, which operates lounges at Mumbai and Lucknow, removed their lounges from the DreamFolks platform in 2025. The Gurugram-based company worked as an aggregator of airport lounges for credit card providers until the lounge operators decided to cut the middleman out of the equation.
DreamFolks now wants to differentiate benefits by customer segment. Premium cardholders could get wellness, golf and social-club benefits, while lower-tier customers could be offered highway dining or railway lounges.
“We don't want to give the same benefits to everybody and there has to be a differentiation,” Kallat said.
The shift is also aimed at addressing a problem that had emerged within airport lounges: overcrowding.
“Most of the people have actually stopped using the lounges; the right users have actually stopped it just because it's become a langar house,” she said. Kallat said overcrowding and misuse had made airport lounges less attractive to genuine premium customers.
New benefits
The company recently launched benefits with HDFC Bank that include meals at five-star hotels, spa facilities and airport transfers through Uber. It is also using technology to verify boarding passes and ensure benefits are used by eligible customers.
Railway lounges are another growth area. DreamFolks acquired a company with three railway lounges and now operates about six, with Chennai, Vadodara and Mumbai operational. Lucknow and Tirupati are being added, while a Delhi station lounge is under construction. It is targeting 10-12 lounges in FY27 and ₹100 crore revenue from the business within two years. The segment is currently profitable, though volumes remain small.
Travel and lifestyle now contribute roughly equally to the business, Kallat said.
Going global
DreamFolks has also expanded internationally across more than 120 countries, with over 1,000 lounges, and entered Asia-Pacific. However, the West Asia war has hurt international volumes, particularly in Europe and West Asia, delaying its recovery plans. Kallat said the company is targeting break-even next year.
“The evolution of the premium travel ecosystem presents an interesting mix of opportunity and risk. As the airline industry and its partners look beyond the traditional lounge proposition, there is considerable scope to create a more expansive ecosystem around the premium traveler - spanning wellness, golf, dining, private clubs, railway lounges and other experiential benefits. From the consumer’s standpoint, this is a natural progression: the premium traveler increasingly values convenience, personalization and experiences, rather than merely access to a facility,” said Monish G. Chatrath, managing partner, MGC Global Risk Advisory LLP, a leading risk advisory services firm in India.
“The opportunity, however, must be matched by commercial discipline,” Chatrath said, pointing out principal risks that are customer adoption, utilization, partner economics and scalability. “The newer propositions can certainly be viable, but their success will depend on whether they generate sufficient frequency, engagement and recurring revenue to create meaningful scale,’ he said.