I'm sorry if this is already posted elsewhere, but after searching around for 20mins I haven't come across the information I'm looking for..

My wife and I will be using free award nights from the Chase Visa for an upcoming trip to Japan. My mother also has 2 free award nights from her Chase Visa and they expire at the end of Feb. I know that award nights are not supposed to be transferable, but does anyone have any experience getting around this rule? We will be meeting a friend and it'd be great if we could book 2 rooms for a few of the nights...do you think we could book 1 night with one of our awards and then a second room with one of my mother's expiring certs? Perhaps we could say that her flight was changed/delayed/cancelled/etc. and we'd still be able to access the 2nd room? Or perhaps my wife could pretend to check in as her? If neither of these options work, do you think the worst case scenario would be them just cancelling the reservation? Or perhaps they'd charge her for the full night as a cancellation penalty??

Any/all insights appreciated -- thanks!!