Originally Posted by
gora14
It was a whole 'nother ballgame a few years ago. Too many elites were reserving rooms for all their friends so that everyone could get lounge access. As a result, they went to a fairly strict policy of one elite plus one guest, didn't matter if you were staying with family or not. As a result, those staying with spouse and kids have to pay for the lounge. I fondly remember the good ol' days too.
I think Thailand and China have been charging kids for lounge access for years, and I have no idea about Japan but I guess it's the same since the hotel policy is more counting heads than rooms. I was lucky in Shanghai we booked 2 rooms and they did give kids
#3 lounge access (he was 6 at that time so that might be the reason as China see kids as under 6). I was able to get lounge access for all of us in Malaysia, as long as the kids are under 12 (if they are staying in the same room as us), when we booked 2 rooms the hotel extended the lounge access to kid
#3 without charge.
My kids don't each much, you put them in a grant buffet breakfast they take a bowl of cereal or yogurt or a toast and a glass of juice (unless they have ramen), if you put them in Fairfield/Springhill they take a bowl of cereal or yogurt or a toast and a glass of juice. During lounge hours, they often can't find anything they want to eat anyway - whether it's a luxury lounge or a US lounge, and most lounges don't even have juice/milk during happy hours. How much would that cost the hotel? Maybe $5 max per kid per day (I'm sure hotels know the cost) - my kids would take cup noodles or local food or $5 hot and ready pizza over lounge food.
I think the +1 policy is to let hotels decide on how they implement the policy. If a hotel takes good care of us I'll definitely return even if they are more expensive than their competitors.