On the availability front, I was able to book one of my reward nights yesterday. SF was only showing availability at two of their hotels, but at least that was something. So on this latest round of free nights, it only took a dozen tries to find something that worked.

The new Goodland hotel in Goleta hasn't opened availability for booking rewards nights; I understand that they don't do that until the hotel actually opens. So, if you want to book shortly after opening, that's tough.

On the amenity front, I there is a wide disparity between what hotels offer, and since I haven't returned to any of the hotels I stayed at 'pre-devaluation'/wording change, I don't have a true apples-to-apples comparison. That said, based on what I have experienced, and what I have heard, my sense of a devaluation is not unique.

Hotel Marlowe did a really bang-up job with the amenity--everything was ready on arrival to my preferences and they provided a night cap with turndown service. A fantastic stay, overall. Donovan House was probably one of the weaker offerings--a bottle of cheap wine and fruit plate, despite that being exactly what I do not want. I see no point in getting wine with the welcome amenity, since it's usually the same as the wine hour offerings and arrives at the same time. At Surfcomber, I've stayed a few times and the snacks are always on-point, but I did not receive drinks with the last stay. Wilshire, Eventi, Burnham, and Palomar Phoenix all deserve high praise on amenities, as well.

It's unclear to me whether there is a regional trend with amenity stinginess. My guess is that

In terms of upgrades, I am about 75% able to snag a suite. No complaints there.

I agree that Kimpton does a good job of being active on social media and FT. My big beef is that they are far more reactive than proactive--there seems to never be any advance notice of program changes (if there are changes), and the T&Cs are not helpful in a practical sense.

In terms of the year-end gift, I had never heard of that before. I certainly didn't receive one at the end of 2013.