Marriott Rewards (including Ritz-Carlton) - Plat bennies but didn't make res?

OK - I couldn't think of any way to word the thread title compactly.

I would like to get an award stay by pouring the necessary points from my account into my wife's account. So then the cert is issued in her name.

When we make the res, how do I ensure that my Platinum status is recognized?

Or should I issue the cert in my name out of her account?

Is there a reason you have to use your wife's account to hold the points for the reservation rather than the other way? The only reason I could think that would be an issue:

1. You have enough points in your account and your worried Marriott won't pull any points from wife's. If this is your concern, I have done this and it was no issue at all. Marriott went ahead and put the 40K points from my wife's account into mine for an award that I had more than enough points to cover.

2. You are trying to artificially increase your wife's lifetime point total so she can reach one of the Emeritus elite statuses. I'm not sure that this will work as I think Marriott tracks how you received some of your points (i.e. MVCI owners can use the same points from trading their owners week for awards at an MVCI property) and they won't count transferred points. But hey, its worth a shot if this is what you are trying to do.

3. Some other reason I can't think of?

Now on to getting your Plat benefits. Even if your wife's account is the primary on the reservation, you should be able to show your Plat elite card at check-in and as long as your name is also on the reservation, they should honor it. So you could just create the reservation under her name and with her points (and your points as well). Then just call Marriott and ask them to add your name to the reservation.

If your worried about possibly getting a better upgrade if your Plat number is the primary on the reservation, I guess you could do the following:

1. Call Marriott Rewards, fill out the point transfer reward to get the points into your wife's account.

2. Then ask them to make an award reservation in your name, but to pull the points from her account. The last time I ordered an award for somebody else, Marriott still used paper certs. I don't know if that is still the case or not. If it requires a paper cert, then just make sure your name is on the cert and not hers. Then the cert will match the name on the reservation.

Actually, point #1 was the issue. I wasn't aware that I could pull points from her account even if I had enough to cover the award.

If that's the case, then I guess I have no further issues. :)