Originally Posted by
spgplat21
No it's only available on package rates, but it's not guaranteed availability.
I ran into this at the Hyatt Regency Maui a year or so ago, and HGP was able to get me an award room after the calling the hotel. Here is the message from the boss man himself saying that hotels should not be doing this (and to reach out to them should you encounter it)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18260970-post51.html
Hopefully a discussion with HGP's representatives here on flyertalk will get this taken care of and please let us know what the ultimate resolution is. It sounds like a lot of people at HGP and here on flyertalk are still misinformed regarding this issue unless there was an update since Jeff's post above that I missed.
IMO, unless a hotel is sold out, by definition the daily rate (rack rate) should be available for sale. I wouldn't be surprised if the hotel is trying to implement de facto capacity controls by making it difficult to make an award reservation. The vast majority of GP members would probably give up and not contact customer service.