FWIW, I can't help but thinking that this matter has been blown WAAAAY out of proportion -- sort of like a tempest in a teapot.

In my 25 years of staying in Sheraton hotels, I haven't had one single instance of being refused entry into a lounge due to overcrowding.

If you read the terms of most airline club membership contracts, they have the very same verbiage about reserving the right to refuse entry if the lounge is already packed. In practice, this happens so rarely, if at all, that it's just not that big of a deal.

I feel certain that if I were to be denied access to a lounge at a Starwood hotel, a simple call to the front desk would garner me two breakfast certs to use in the restaurant. I can't imagine this NOT happening, frankly.

I'm pleased to see that Starwood agrees with the need for a hotel to extend a goodwill gesture in this case, but I do wish they'd spelled it out a little more clearly for all of us.

Regardless, this happens with such incredible infrequency that I doubt this policy will ever have any effect for any of us!