I've stayed at the Marriott East Side during weeks when the lounge was a circus. (Not really because of kids...it was just a circus because of the number of elites there.)

I've stayed in a lot of hotels where the rooms on the C-level permit four guests. I assume if you're actually booked in one of those rooms, you can use the lounge. I wonder if that's how the lounges are getting so crowded, even in places that enforce the 1+1 on non-C-level elites?

I see both sides: I get why elites want benefits to apply to leisure stays (including the people booked and legally staying in their room), and I also get why hotels want to curtail massive overcrowding in lounges. For a family trip to NYC, I'd *probably* opt for Residence Inn...hell, I'd probably do that just because of typical Manhattan room sizes. I'd certainly rather have the relative calm of an RI over the general circus that is the Marquis.