"Are we doom mongering about full lounges with folks turned away or standing room only ?"

Yes some people are doom mongering.

As I wrote above at times an individual lounge may be very busy due to high occupancy at a particular hotel for a limited number of ocassions a year but that's not the same as every lounge being rammed every night of the year.

And sometimes I wonder if the people complainign about a busy lounge are only staying at the hotel because they are attending the event that is makign the hotel and thus the lounge busy.