In response to kmandrew, thanks for checking yourself. At least I'm glad to know you see availability, helps me narrow down a bit what I'm doing wrong.
I'm still unsure what I'm doing wrong. I'm logged in to HHonors, check the HHonors box on my reservation search, get the list of properties for the particular city. But on all my searches, almost none show a rewards option below the nightly sale price.

I doubt this has an effect, but I currently only have a couple thousand points in the account. I have a mountain of points coming my way via work and CC bonuses, they just haven't posted yet. Thought I'd mention it, but I doubt my pts balance would affect search results.

I have plenty of time to make these bookings for November. As last resort, I could call cust. serv. for help looking.