The terms for guest of honor and gifting awards are pretty clearly stated on the Hyatt website. I'm not sure how Hyatt plans to determine who is a friend and who is a stranger. I think as long as the Globalist member is comfortable gifting an award for another person.... (added bonus if they've met in person and are technically 'friends') then there is no risk of running afoul of the program.
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Guest of Honor: If a Globalist gifts a Free Night Award to another party in accordance with these Terms, the recipient will be treated as a “
Guest of Honor” at the applicable hotel or resort. This means that the recipient will receive all In-hotel Benefits that would have been provided to the Globalist, had (s)he redeemed the award him- or herself at the applicable hotel or resort. Gifting of an award is subject to the limitations and restrictions set forth in the
Gifting an Award section of these Terms. Guest of Honor benefits are available only for gifted awards that are redeemed at a Park Hyatt, Miraval, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Ziva or Hyatt Zilara hotel or resort. Not valid at Hyatt Residence Club resorts or any M life Rewards destination.
13.
Gifting an Award. Members may request that certain awards be issued to another person. Free Night Awards, certain Room Upgrade Awards, and Points + Cash Awards are currently eligible to be gifted to another person, as permitted under this provision. Explorist Club Lounge Access Awards (defined in
Appendix C), Complimentary Suite Upgrade Awards (defined in Appendix C), and non-stay awards (such as Dining, Spa and More Awards) are currently not eligible for gifting. In order to gift an award that is allowed to be gifted in the Program, a Member must comply with the following requirements:
A. The Award Reservation must be made by the Member who wishes to gift the award, but the reservation must be made in the name of the person who will actually use the award (i.e., the recipient of the gifted award).
B. The recipient of the award must provide photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit for incidentals at check-in.
C. Once an Award Reservation has been made, the reservation may not be transferred. The reservation may only be used by the person whose name appears on the reservation. The reservation may be cancelled in accordance with the applicable hotel, resort, or other participating property’s cancellation policy, in which event the points for the award will be returned to the account of the Member who made the reservation.
D. Gifting of an award does not include the transfer of Program membership benefits, except where otherwise detailed in these Terms. For clarification, and without limiting any other provision in these Terms, Guest of Honor benefits (as described in
Appendix C) apply only when a Globalist gifts a Free Night Award and not to any gift of a Room Upgrade Award or Points + Cash Award.