I've never had a significant problem using points with two exceptions: Paris Champs Elysees, and the FI in Sioux City, IA!

I presume the latter was a fluke, but who knows....maybe as many people want to cash in points in Iowa as France. I'm not sure, because I've only tried using points in Iowa once.

Now in the case of Paris...I've been turned away three times. In each case it was Feb or March. And also in each case, I had flexibility with my dates and tried for one, two, or three night stays. I also tried to book my stay at least 60 days in advance. I will admit my most recent attempt was four years ago. I wound up talking to a supervisor on the Guest services 800 number, who said the hotel only sets aside 11 rooms for rewards stays and that they're usually snapped up as soon as they come available (I'm not sure at what point in time this is/was).

I have, however, had success booking free nights at the Ren La Defense as well as the CY Nueilly. (Of the two, I'd recommend the CY)

I never have problems with Marriott, I wish the airlines were as easy to use as Marriott is!

As mentioned by A Traveler (and having lived in CVG myself), I am pretty certain that the Rivercenter & CY black out days around Labor Day for points redemption.

Same here.

Bruce

New Paris choice
 

Hopefully the addition of the deluxe and well located full service boutique property Renaissance Paris Vendome will alleviate some of the award pressure which has made the Champs Elysees property so difficult for many of us to book for a seven day award stay. We'll see.

Dude. Stay at the Hilton! The Hilton in downtown Cincy is very nice and it has a pleasant Concierge Lounge that is open on weekends, unlike most Marriotts. I stayed there on Flying Pig Marathon weekend: everything else was sold out; they had award rooms available. Great property, a nice art-deco feel to it. Walking distance to the River...I don't know exactly where the fireworks are, but my guess is that you won't have any trouble seeing them.

Why do you earn the points? Well, because they will get you free rooms when the opposite situation comes up: Starwood and Hilton say NO, and Marriott says YES. Believe me: it happens with all of the chains. I have a stay coming up in Minneapolis where neither Starwood nor HHonors can get me a 2-bedroom apartment: Marriott Rewards can. All three of the biggies have strong cities and weak cities. Learn to play 'em all.

Your best bet: diversify. If you are a Marriott loyalist (in terms of your paid stays), then use an SPG Amex as your primary credit card. If you are an SPG loyalist, then use the HH Amex as your primary. If you have a heaping pile of AA miles that you can't use, accrue Marriott and SPG whenever you can, knowing that you can get HH as needed. The hotel programs are, by and large, better than airline programs. You can actually get good awards when you learn to play 'em right.

Right on, Pinniped! ^
BTW, the Cincy Hilton is (their) Cat. 2 which = 20K points a night.

Was the County Fair in town that week? ;)

Try monitoring the marriott website daily. It seems that they change their inventory frequently from no awards available to standard available, etc. There's also a way to see what days are available within a 3 (or 4) week time frame once you log in to your account.

This is what I have always done. I try the website, and if I can't book it right away, I just call the reservations line. I have never had a problem booking reward stays.

As others have said, I wish the airlines were so easy to get reward travel on!

The Marriott website makes it easy to check award availability a month at a time. If you see scattered openings, try the following:

Say you want a 4 night award stay at a given property (say Mon, Tues, Wed and Thurs), but Wednesday is unavailable. So, you get a three night award which you use for Mon, Tues, and Thurs, and pay for Wednesday. You can do this as long as the stay is continuous and at the same property.

Because Marriott gives you a "volume discount", it's more cost effective to buy three nights at a time instead of three one-nighters or a two and a one.

Incidentally, the month-at-a-time calendar works for paid nights, too. If you are trying a special rate (GOV, senior, AAA, etc.), use the "dates flexible" calendar option and it will show you which days have that rate and what the rate is (sometimes it changes depending on the day).

I wish airlines (and Hilton) were as easy to use.

Most of the downtown hotels severely limit or black out Labor Day weekend for reward stays because of RiverFest, our annual end of summer party which culminates with their firework show on Sunday night.

For those advising the OP to simply switch to Hilton, let me tell this: I tried to book a room at the Embassy Suites Covington for 2005. I am a Hilton Gold member. Not only did they black out reward stays entirely, but they would not allow me to book, and pay for, a room for just Sunday night. You have to book for Saturday AND Sunday. To add insult to injury, they added $100/night to the price of the rooms, so that the rooms cost nearly $300.

Did U also try the Cincy Hilton Nederland Plaza?

No, because I wanted to be on the Kentucky side (I had my kids with me and the Kentucky side is more kid friendly) AND I wanted to be able to see the fireworks from my room. Most of the Cincinnati hotels have riverviews but have buildings in front which impede the view.

The only two hotels that I know of off the top of my head that have unimpeded riverviews are The Embassy Suites Covington and the Marriott right next door.

Marriott definitely makes you work for any of the good properties.. for example, I had to check each and every day for the Marriott resort in Oahu for labor day.. finally the week of departure I was able to snag my nights.. but it was cutting it close

otoh.. you can hardly (or at least for me) can never get rooms for the sporting events that I want to attend.. i.e. final four etc..