Sorry it didn't work out. Others were right and I was wrong. In that regard, what Marriott says on their web site with regard to black out dates is tantamount to lying in my opinion.

As a LT Plat, I'll continue to stay at Marriott, but the respect I used to have for them has dwindled in the past couple years due to this and other factors including the web site issues, plethora of Golds flooding the elite ranks, diluting benefits (bye bye BOGOs), absence of presence of FT, etc.

If I ever do return to 50+ nights of travel/year I may have to explore SPG, but for now I'll just use the Marriott benefits I have for my 10-30 nights each year (that's what happens when you buy a place where you used to stay 50 nights per year).