Marriott is offering about 90% of their 7500 hotels at off peak redemption prices for bookings made by December 14 and stays through February 28, 2021.

Nearly 7000 hotels at off peak redemption prices may be useful for anyone planning travel over the winter – for U.S. members to domestic destinations or to the limited places around the world that will have us.

Here’s Marriott’s award chart pricing:

Over the summer Marriott offered stays in July at off peak rates and then they repeated this a second time in October but the truth is that the way off-peak and peak pricing was supposed to work, with nearly all hotels having excess capacity these days, nearly all hotels should be offered at off-peak pricing for most days anyway and not just for bookings through December 14 or for a short stay window based on the value proposition the program is supposed to offer.

In theory Marriott charges members ‘peak’ award prices on nights they think a hotel is going to sell out. They’d have to pay the hotel extra for the stay, so they charge you more points to cover it.

And as part of the deal, with prices going up when hotels are full, they offer ‘off peak’ prices on nights there’s basically no risk that a hotel will be sold out. And for in-between nights, they’ve got standard award prices.

Marriott has been charging peak redemption prices for way too many nights at way too many hotels that are mostly empty, essentially gouging members, and that’s not how off-peak and peak were supposed to work. For several days though you can book hotels for the pricing Marriott should be charging now, albeit only for stays through February 28, 2021.

A Marriott spokesperson says “Of the 90% of properties offering solely off-peak rates, about two—thirds of those properties had previously been offering a mix of rates during the promotional stay period.” And that just shows that Bonvoy has been gouging members for redemptions at a majority of its hotels.