How Monster's pick works
When you can get into two or more open lounges, the monster badges one as Monster's pick and puts it on top. It goes down this list and stops at the first step that tells two lounges apart.
Only lounges you can use
The pick goes to a lounge your cards, status or memberships get you into, or one someone in your party gets you into. It has to be open at the time you set under At the airport. If you picked a terminal, it stays there unless nothing in that terminal lets you in.
Everyone in, nobody paying
Traveling with others? A lounge where your whole party gets in free beats any lounge where someone pays a guest fee, even a fancier one. Kids who get in free count as free.
Up to $100 for a better lounge
If every lounge would charge someone, the monster will spend up to $100 in total guest fees to get you into a better lounge. Above $100, the cheapest lounge wins, as long as it's a real lounge and not a spa or a sleep pod. A guest fee with no published price counts as more than $100.
Nobody left at the gate
A lounge where the whole party gets in, even paying, beats one where someone can't get in at all. If no lounge fits everyone, the one that fits the most of you wins.
The best lounge
Then quality: top-shelf lounges (Centurion, Chase Sapphire, Capital One Lounge, Polaris, Delta One, first-class lounges) beat airline clubs (Admirals Club, Sky Club, business lounges), which beat independent and Priority Pass lounges. Restaurants, spas and sleep pods come last.
The fewest strings attached
A lounge that takes any boarding pass beats one that needs a Delta flight, a business class ticket or an international departure.
Tie breakers
Still level? The lounge with more free guests wins, then the one with more amenities (showers, a bar, table service).
The line under the badge says why it won: "Everyone gets in here with no guest fees" when a fancier lounge would have cost your party, or "The lowest guest fees for your party" when every option costs more than $100. More tips in the Monster Guide.