Confirmed it's dead. DEAL CLOSED!
Looks like Tues-Sun is dead but Mon-Sun works at $148/night+. Of course, that's probably too long for most people.
I actually was surprised how similar "booking a year out" was this year from previous years; the Embassy Suites was dutifully listing rooms for $999/night, as it has started doing clearly just to make me stop booking there for my emergency reservation, some places were listed as sold out (likely not taking reservations yet), and there were only Diamond-status rooms available at a couple of other properties. It felt like the barest hint of normalcy!
However, unlike last year, I am not going to book a no-refunds room and then laugh at my own statement "well, it is not like there is any way I will not use the room."
Which is why this one's such a good deal because it can be cancelled (technically refunded but there's no actual deposit required) up through the end of July next year.
I can confirm that on the employee side, employee rate rooms were just as hard to find this year as the previous two years. Ended up with hotels 10-13 miles out and having to switch hotels between Wednesday and Thursday night, again.