Agree re award space. I've also seen "view" rooms where the view was of a concrete courtyard and/or a highway (I'm talking about you HR Tysons Corner) and my guess is that these room rates are also to avoid standard room availability for awards.
In a hotel with 6 floors of rooms, does a high floor put me at least on 3? 4? The second floor is higher than the the first so does that count? (as per OPs check in experience). I believe a high floor room is more of a money grab than award space avoidance at some/many HPs (even if it isn't a large $ amount). The attached pic is for a HP near IAD. Six floors. Nothing special. Probably not an aspirational award hotel that wants/needs to limit award space. Plus, the high room rate is something new in the recent history at this hotel. I don't recall seeing this rate a year ago and definitely not anytime in the more distant past (as far as I can recall
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Cheers
If the rates really are different at this property (I've seen some Hyatt Places where the "high floor" rooms are in a different category yet price out the same as standard rooms-- which is clearly being done to limit award inventory), you should treat this as a downgrade and ask them to reduce your room rate accordingly.