As I stated, and as you confirm, this rule has always been part of the loyalty program which this thread is about, and after which this forum is named. We can romanticize about Hot Shoppes and Pan Am or whatever all we want, but it's neither here nor there.

As you alluded to, a simple workaround is to give your side business to another chain. Another workaround is to use an opaque booking channel such as an OTA (and probably save some money in the process). A third option, and the one I'd choose, would simply be to pack up, check out, and take my things with me. This has the benefit of averting the inevitable FlyerTalk thread about how management refuses to compensate someone whose stuff was stolen from their room while they were away at another hotel for the weekend...