Originally Posted by
CanadaDH
Right, but that practice is still not overloading the lounge capacity, because what you described is not giving access to the lounge beyond the number of designated Gold guest rooms. Selling last-minute room upgrades doesn't have any more impact on the lounge than if the rooms had all sold out in advance at full price.
Or are you suggesting that offering the rooms at a reduced rate brings a different demographic of lounge patrons than if they were sold in advance?
Lounge experience can start to deteriorate well before the Gold floor occupancy reaches capacity. I am not really complaining about the cheap upgrades though, as I know the alternatives would be more expensive rack rates, having less staff in the lounge, less food varieties, or worse, not having the lounge at all.
My point is, while lots of languages on Accor and Fairmont website suggested that Gold Lounge is a very exclusive place where you had to pay for an expensive Gold room to access, in practice many properties have been selling Gold rooms for much less than the public rates. Allowing Diamond into the lounge is hardly a significant "dilution", as many properties have been giving away Gold rooms for cheap if not for "free".