I have noticed two startling things: I recently did two 'award night' stays with a major chain and in the past if I needed to cancel prior to 24 hours I could just cancel and re-book, i.e. my route changes. But now the reservation is final and if I didn't need it I could cancel it but I would be charged the cash equivalent of the room. I'd get my points back but I would also have to pay for the room which seemed ODD. The second thing goes to the points made earlier on selling the room to someone else. There are more and more outlets like Hotel Trivago, Hotwire, and other last minute deals so less and less inventory should be floating around that would otherwise not be sold.