Marriott Bonvoy goes fully dynamic, kills award price ceilings
From January 1, 2023, Marriott Bonvoy hotels no longer had to keep award prices within their old category bands — nightly rates now float wherever the demand-based algorithm sets them. For HDFC Marriott Bonvoy cardholders redeeming points or free-night certificates, the price ceiling is gone.
Marriott finished what it started in March 2022. From January 1, 2023, Bonvoy hotels no longer have to keep award prices within their old category bands. An award night now costs whatever the demand-based algorithm decides on a given day — sometimes past the old peak prices entirely.
Understand what actually died here. Categories were never generous, but they were a ceiling: you knew the worst-case price before you saved up. Now a property that costs 60,000 points on a slow Tuesday can cost double that on a peak weekend, with zero warning and zero published chart to appeal to.
For Indian loyalists this lands squarely on HDFC Marriott Bonvoy cardholders converting free-night certificates or points — the safety net under every aspirational redemption just vanished.
Our take: this is a major devaluation dressed up as “flexibility.” Fixed charts are contracts; dynamic pricing is a mood. Value Bonvoy points at their bad-day price, not their brochure price.