One of the nice things about miles & points is being able to share the gift of travel with friends and family. Now, ideally we’d always be able to go along on those journeys, but there are some situations where that’s not practical, for obvious reasons.
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I recall a fiasco when I made an IHG award booking to help a friend escape a domestic violence situation in a city several states away from me. First, the front desk wouldn't let her check in due to the fact that I had made the booking just an hour beforehand and wasn't present myself. Fortunately, I was able to clear that up over the phone. Second, they assigned her to a room that was already occupied by someone else. Finally, after they had put her in an unassigned room, they gave someone *else* a key to *that* room, so my friend was traumatized by having someone try to enter her room. It was an absolutely incredible mess.
Fortunately, I've never had any of those issues with any other IHG booking, whether award or revenue. It just sucks that everything fell apart on the hotel end in a situation that was already scary and frustrating.
Have to add to Hilton:
Can also book online and just add the name of the person traveling in the "second person in room or add second guest nam" field. Similar as described with booking! ..... instead of "Special Request" use the provided "Additional Guest Name" field. BUT don't forget, to make the booking for 2 people!
"If you book through your online profile, be sure to include the name of the guest who will be staying in the room in the “Special Request” field."
Just book the trip and add them as an additional guest. That is all it takes. Never ask permission or raise the issue with the hotel chain. Done this dozens of times, including to use points of people that passed away. Never had a problem
I do the same. The catch is, in some countries (e.g. Singapore) it's mandatory for the hotel to collect the names of guests actually staying. So it's absolutely fine if you book a room for two and your friend stays alone. But if you book a room for two in your name and two other adults stay, this might be an issue
Thinking this a bit further, in case when traveling WITH the second person on the trip, but with the intention to stay in separate rooms: My gutfeel would tell me to book two rooms under my name (one for 2 pax, one for 1 pax), and for one of the rooms, add the second person. Officially, we would be staying together in the 2 pax room and have the 1 pax room as "office room / working room / storage / ..." while staying each in one of the two rooms. Reason: This allows to use status-based benefits like free breakfast, lounge access, etc. for both. Thoughts...?
I don't know if you have done this with Marriott, but they don't offer any notes to add to the res online and require actually speaking with the property to add before arrival. I find Marriott the most strict of all the brands listed.