Resolved.

I called the hotel as suggested. The in house reservation person (Palmer House in Chicago) told me that it was "against policy" for her to make an award reservation.

I logged in to the website to find availability. My dates were still available. I called the service center to make the reservation/redeem the award. The guy on the phone still couldn't see availability. He told me to book the award online and then was able to reverse the transaction and issue the GLON2.

Kind of convoluted and silly, but at least I have my award.

Mike