Does anyone have any tips for redeeming rewards for free nights? How far do you generally have to book in advance to get a hotel that you want? I have tried to use my rewards for several trips in different cities from July through September and nothing is available. Any advice would be appreciate. Thanks.

Just call the hotline and the will make the reservation for you. That's how it works for diamonds. I got even in the obviously heavenly booked Rome and Venice Hiltons without problems a room.

Since you are posting in the Marriott Rewards forum I will assume you are looking for awards using your Marriott Reward points.

For popular hotels you need to book way out. Exactly how far depends on the hotel. For example for Rome, London and Paris hotels I would recommend 11 months. For places like Vail Marriott, they just released some award inventory for Sunday-Thursday night stays for the very end of March though mid-April (spring skiing). In many cases you must book 5 nights. For example you can book a standard award for April 5-10, but not for April 5-9 or April 6-10 or any shorter stays. They will release more ski season inventory sometime between now and the end of August, as their blackout dates are finalized then. Right now you can't even book a paid weekend stay for end of March/early April. For example attempting to book a paid stay for April 3-5 yields zip, even if you are Plat. As a Plat you can book April 3-10 and then call up and have them change it to April 3-5 under the Plat Guarantee.

You can also book Almost Anytime Awards for double the points at any hotel that has standard rooms available; except at the Rome Flora or Capri Marriotts who do not fully participate in Marriott Rewards. The Rome Flora and Capri Marriotts do have award availability but it is very limited and as such, very difficult to book unless you do so very far in advance.

Welcome to the fabulous reality of the Marriott rewards program!!

So easy to earn, so heard to use if you actually want a redeem at a property in their "high season", i.e., Florida in the winter, Northeast in the summertime.

Yes, you might get lucky if you haven't planned well in advance but be prepared for a lot of work and disappointment in the meantime.

Hey, I got a great idea, lets give away free instant Gold status so more and more points can fight each other for redemption!

Since the award you want isn't currently available, the only advice I can offer is to just keep checking...like 2 or 3 times a week and see if anything opens up. I had been waffling on two different properties for my summer vacation...each time I look there is different availability.

If you can't get the room(s), I would suggest doing regular bookings anf aggressively using the LNF guarantee.