Land-of-Miles

Yes but they don't actually charge a cancellation deposit up front do they? I wasn't charged up front when I had my stay there but I was aware of the cancellation fee and conditions. I also expected to be charged upfront but it never happened, so I am not sure whether I was just lucky or there is some confusion about the normal practice (i.e. you only get charged if you cancel within the 30 days). I have no real issue with a long cancellation for a resort property with a very limited peak season and where rooms during this time are valuable commodities.

I can't work out quite what the problem is with standard rooms. When I last booked at the Hilton Whistler the problem I had was that they had no standard rooms left available so I couldn't book. My issue was that since only 8 rooms out of 200+ (or way less than 5% of all rooms) were "standard", the standard room category is just a device to limit redemption awards. Of the standard rooms some are "handicapped accessible" which limits the real number still further IIRC.

After much arguing and escalation I was able to book a Queen with Kitchen. I would hate to actually occupy one of these rooms as it seems to essentially be a standard room with kitchen facilities. HH though will only ever issue a redemption in the standard room category, you then either roll the upgrade dice or agree to extra payment per night (charge only due at the end of your stay like any room charges).

So is the issue that they have no standard rooms available (in which case you need to go down the Diamond Force/escalation route) or is it that they will only issue an award in a "standard" room (which would be standard practice if you pardon the pun)?