One of my biggest concerns when I started staying with Marriott, was that I might have trouble redeeming points for awards. I have been with SPG for about 8 years and with Hilton about 9 years and from my experience have never had a problem with SPG, ever. With Hilton I have had a few times been unable to redeem points for the dates I was looking for but nothing major. I have burned all my points with Marriott this year on future reservations for Xmas in NYC, for Rome Italy and for Capri, Italy. So I have been very happy with Marriott in regards to award redemption. Now I just need to get some more points.