The only abuse of the lounge pass i have personally witnessed,
was 2 years ago in 2023 during its orginal inception.

Setting:
IC Bali Jimbaran at reception
Who:
a family of 8 : 4 adults, 4 kids: < 18 years
Commotion:
4 rooms booked, family demands all 4 rooms should have Club Intercontinental Access
Reason:
each adult and each child shows annual lounge pass on telephone
Confusion:
each adult and each child showed a screenshot on their phone
Explaination of family :
no internet, just arrived could not log into IHG1-rewards account to show valid lounge pass
Reception :
IHG-1rewards is a new program for us, can we verify each lounge pass with each IHG-1rewards account number via the app
Undefeated family:
a heated argument broke out, again the card "i'm a diamond guest + i have top status with Marriott / Hilton / Hyatt, DYKWIA"
With polite Balinese staff running out of options to avoid confrontation, a western manager was called forward, his dry reply:
- how can all 4 kids of < 18 years have an annual lounge pass?
- one must be 18 years to have an IHG-1rewards account loyalty account
- as IHG's official policy across the world is one must be at least 18 years adult to officially check in and stay at their hotels and use the loyalty program
Result:
Angry family left citing outrage

Noticing the manager's foreign accent, i approached him later in his own language to ask about this interesting situation.
He mentioned Systems between hotel back office & IHG were not well aligned (back then) - he suspected the booking via some 3rd party broker - the family had 8 same last names but would / could not produce 8 different valid IHG account numbers for all 8 lounge passes shown as screenshot on their 8 mobiles. His red flag alert was that the kids age as per their identification were all < 18 years so it would be impossible for them to have a loyalty account and own a lounge pass at that age.

End result and IC Bali Jimbaran's impemented policy as since:
- all first time stayers with lounge pass will be asked to show ; log in their IHG-1rewards account number to show the lounge pass in their rewards wallet
- all lounge pass holders will be noted their personal IHG-1rewards account number to cross reference with eligability
* update 2024 * i believe the hotel systems are now updated and can now check in real time