I want to add my input to what seems to be an ongoing issue of hotels "selectively" participating in the no blackouts program. I had a similar experience recently, attempting to book an award at the Hilton Sydney. The "cheapest" room on any date I selected is the "Guestroom plus". Just to prove the point, I made a regular reservation for this room category for my award dates. But even after several calls to both reservations and the hotel, I wasn't able to make any headway.

While "no blackouts" sounds exciting on the surface, it can become completely meaningless unless customers are able to clearly identify whether a "standard room is available". If anyone has any insight into how to confirm that definitively I would welcome a post back.

Related to this, it sounds like this claim may be a bit of deceptive advertising. Has anyone else who has been blocked from a room considered making a complaint about about this to their state authorities?