Starwood Preferred Guest - Does no blackouts actually mean this??

Trying to get a room in NYC 27th-30th August. Looking at the Sheraton NY Hotel & Towers. No award availability showing on spg. However, there is a paid rate available:

1 Queen Traditional Non-Smoking, Sweet Sleeper Bed, Dataport, Voicemail, Coffee/Tea Maker Internet Only Rates - Fully Prepaid, Cancel Rules Apply, No Changes Allowed USD 269.00
Rate details USD*807.00

which looks like a standard room to me. So as far as I understand the rules of the program:

"If we have a guest room available, it's yours*. That's True Redemption(SM).
Only Starwood Preferred Guest® allows you to redeem Starpoints(SM) any time you want to go. Other programs say no blackouts, but limit the number of free rooms available. With Starwood Preferred Guest, if there is a room available in the hotel, it's yours! *
* Applies to Standard Rooms only"

As there is a standard room available, I should be able to get this room on points?? Call spg in Europe, agent not much help. Starts talking about platinum over-ride etc etc, not really understanding. Get transferred to Platinum concierge or desk. She tells me that although it says that on the web-site " actually rooms for points are subject to availability"!!!!!!
I suggest this is not the case and restate the rules of the program. At the moment she is talking to the hotel to see if "they will accept an award". I have tried to explain that as far as I know, this is not a matter of choice, if there is a standard room available, which there is, then I can have it for points. Am I mis-understanding the rules? Still on hold and will post how it resolves. Hopefully it will work out, otherwise I am not sure what to do.

Update - again I have been told that "award stays are subject to availability" and that only the manager of the hotel can agree to make a paid stay an award stay. I read out the web bit to her, and she actually asked me "Does it say that?"!!!!

Still going, now being told that if I book it the hotel will convert it, but NOT if it is a pre-paid rate. So it seems another rule of the program is that as well as there being a standard room available it also HAS to be available on a specific rate plan. Now being transferred to the hotel as it seems I have to beg them for the room to which I am entitled....
And this is supposed to be the best program in the business????

End result - I got transferred to the managers voice mail! What a waste of time, money and effort.....and no room :(

... and this hotel pops up on priceline for $110 or less often enough.

I had a similar incident at the Four Points by Sheraton Santiago Chile. No rooms available for SPG points but rooms available for $89/night (or maybe it was $79) which was the lowest rate I could find for that hotel on any night. Of course, they didn't Platinum upgrade me on either of my two stays there. Lesson learned: hotels that play games with award availability also don't honor SPG Platinum status (generally speaking).

The following thread might provide insight:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174795

Having talked again to the regular platinum desk (rather than the one in Cork) I think the answer is actually simple. spg.com sucks! I do believe the hotel is sold out on the night of 29th (for obvious reasons) and that there is not availability. However for some reason spg.com (which is all we have to go by) is not accurate and not to be trusted. Clearly, it is not on the same system as the main reservations system. Something is still wrong in this though - as far as I know there is still a room available for sale but not for points - which basically contradicts the T&C of the program. Anyway, I am burning 30K at the W Times Square, and will get rid of the rest of my points asap. With the crappy upgrades and stuff, the award availability was the only real reason to stick with Starwood.

Having talked again to the regular platinum desk (rather than the one in Cork) I think the answer is actually simple. spg.com sucks! I do believe the hotel is sold out on the night of 29th (for obvious reasons) and that there is not availability. However for some reason spg.com (which is all we have to go by) is not accurate and not to be trusted. Clearly, it is not on the same system as the main reservations system. Something is still wrong in this though - as far as I know there is still a room available for sale but not for points - which basically contradicts the T&C of the program. Anyway, I am burning 30K at the W Times Square, and will get rid of the rest of my points asap. With the crappy upgrades and stuff, the award availability was the only real reason to stick with Starwood.

I believe that SPG is walking a fairly thin line if your facts are accurate. However, you have said that you believe that the hotel is sold out. If they are offering rooms for sale in order to assure 100% occupancy (oversell situation a possibility), I do understand how there could be rooms available for sale but not for award redemption. My personal opinion is that SPG is the best program out there, particularly for Platinum members.

Please feel free to take a look and see what you think. The paid room is still there on spg. NYC Sheraton & Towers, 27th-30th August. Pops up with the internet rate for a traditional room.... if you just try the 29th August for one night, it shows sold out. Still cant get a reward room though....

The repub convetion is coming that week hence why there might be a min stay.. so if you try to use pts for 2 days you might be able to get it

Please feel free to take a look and see what you think. The paid room is still there on spg. NYC Sheraton & Towers, 27th-30th August. Pops up with the internet rate for a traditional room.... if you just try the 29th August for one night, it shows sold out. Still cant get a reward room though....

I'm not sure that I was clear in my previous post - it sounds like they are sold out for part of the days in question; however, it sounds like they are still accepting paid reservations to cover the few people that might not show up.

Pure speculation on my part though.

This is just like any other overbooking situation - if you're willing to plunk down 2X (or 4X) rack rate, they'll take your money and walk some poor sitff. Doesn't mean they've got rooms. If the RNC really is there, then (based on the reviews of Boston for the dems) you should re-think your strategy...

And FatBoy - if you'd like to send any of those *Wood points my way - let me know.

I believe that SPG is walking a fairly thin line if your facts are accurate. However, you have said that you believe that the hotel is sold out. If they are offering rooms for sale in order to assure 100% occupancy (oversell situation a possibility), I do understand how there could be rooms available for sale but not for award redemption. My personal opinion is that SPG is the best program out there, particularly for Platinum members.

I've found I've been seeing the same where the SPG desk is able to find me rooms whereas the web-site shows nothing available. FWIW, Travelocity seems to list the same availability the SPG desk has. Also a mitigating factor might be whether you have a corporate contract and SET# with LRA.

But should the website be able to offer rooms where the SPG desk cannot?? I suppose this all comes down to what is meant by "availability"? That is, if a room can be booked on the web for $$ then I would assume it is available for points too (this is similar to what I have seen reported on here, where when being told there are no upgrades, log on to spg, see an upgraded room available and return to check in to ask for it). However, if "available" means an actual, physical room must be available (and I have no idea how hotels oversell as compared to airlines) then that means we have no way of knowing whether award space nor upgrades are actually there for the taking. This would seem to place considerable limits on award & upgrade space as I imagine hotels routinely oversell (is it like airlines, where it varies from route to route??).
I would be interested to know what "available" means in SPG terms.

FYI, a plat concierge I was dealing with yesterday did call me back today and did manage to secure availability at the hotel I wanted (though it was clearly a gesture on the part of the hotel and I was told there would be no upgrades as it was the Republican party conference - which in itself is enough to make me not want to go at all!). The question remains though of whether this should have been an automatic entitlement as a part of the T&C of the program.

My personal opinion is that SPG is the best program out there, particularly for Platinum members.

Cos you get to beg for upgrades and get 500 extra points per stay?? Sorry, I really think I must be missing something about Plat. My impression honestly has been that it is not that big a deal, and not much better than Gold, where you still get the 3 for 2 points earning.