Hotels often have good rates for conference attendees. In many cases, the attendee contacts the hotel directly to book the room at the conference rate.

Do hotels check to see if you are registered for the conference? Do conferences check to see if anyone booked at the conference rate but failed to register? (I know this may vary, but I'm just wondering generally.)

I know it's easier to deduct expenses when paying the registration fee, but sometimes those are hefty.

My apologies if this has been covered before.