I have a general question about the Elite Room Type Guarantee in preparation for an award stay at a hotel I know is sold out the night before for my room type (as I've been looking daily to dd another night and all the system has been giving is a very expensive room - clearly the platinum force).

I'm looking to check in mid to late afternoon (~3-4pm) and am wondering if the room type guarantee applies if they do not have my room available at check in time, but will have something available later in the evening? Not expecting there to be an issue, but it's possible...

I had a similar issue not too long ago where another hotel had blocked my room beforehand, supposedly it was a very nice room, but it wasn't cleaned yet. I ended up taking a room with a King and a sofa bed because we needed to drop stuff off and head out for the evening. In that case, I wasn't sure if I could get the $100 guarantee because the room would have been ready at some point soon, so I didn't want to push it and be a jerk (especially not knowing the rule). But I did wonder if some other non plat got a 'worse' room w/ correct bed type before me, or if it was some kind of one for one situation.

So in some ways it's a hypothetical because I expect it to work out, but just want to be prepared (and since I can't find any similar questions it might help others who encounter the same issue... as i do often read about people having to wait for their room to be prepared after the listed check in time). In this case I don't care about upgrades - they could give me their worst room as long as it has the right beds (will absolutely need to shower after a day outside golfing before dinner, and need the beds as I chose a marriott suites hotel for having 2Q and a sofa bed for 3 of us).

In a similar hypothetical, what if the hotel has NO room available. Does the ultimate reservation guarantee kick in at check-in or can they make you wait for a few hours and get out of the guarantee?