IHG recently changed elite benefits. Free breakfast at Holiday Inn and lounge access at Crowne Plaza was not a published benefit. Now those benefits are published as being for Diamond elites and above only.

I used to get a free breakfast at a particular Holiday Inn for years as an IHG Plat, but when earlier this year IHG officially started giving free breakfasts to Diamonds and above only, this hotel stopped giving me free breakfast as an IHG Plat.

So I suspect that any reports which predate this change in benefits may not be valid at all.

You might want to check a general thread about the change in benefits to see if any Plats are getting lounge access at any Crowne Plazas anymore since this elite benefits change earlier this year.