Originally Posted by BrightlyBob

I very much remember this debate on FT in 2009, when no blackout dates were launched. Before the launch I found standard redemption availability pretty good, but it could be tough to find 7 consecutive nights (then the Marriott sweet spot) of availability at many hotels, the change to no blackout dates was meant to improve this, and in my experience it has.

No blackout dates means every hotel has to offer a pretty high percentage of standard rooms for redemption every night of the year but can by consulting with corporate reduce to a much lower percentage for a few nights (but only a few) annually.

As such this means that every hotel offers award nights EVERY night of the year, hence there are "no blackout dates" but some nights are so restricted for award availability you will have to book very early.

This differs from SPGs "last standard room availability" which means that all hotels offer all standard rooms for redemption all year round, effectively a super-no-blackout rule.