Originally Posted by
Jon Maiman
I have very rarely been in this position. My wife almost never travels without me. One time I did book a FI award stay (w/points not a certificate) for my wife and daughter. I had my wife listed as the second guest and never bothered to change her over to the primary guest. No problems. IIRC they didn't get an upgrade but I did wind up getting welcome arrival gift points. I didn't ask for nor expect to receive any elite benefits for the stay. Frankly, if MR went back to allowing name changes on reservations for award stays on the website, I would have changed the reservation over to her name. I was too lazy to call MR to change it over.
Anyway, I agree with you. Not worth the risk, especially now with the current business climate during the pandemic. I'll go a step further and say not worth the risk in general even when business gets better. Much better to call a property and ask for elite status privileges to be granted as a courtesy. I.e. play within the rules and ask nicely for exceptions rather than trying to do it on the sly . Each to their own....
--Jon
The "proper" Marriott way is to gift the award certificate. This can only be done on the phone as a new reservation with points. If setup properly you wont receive elite night credit nor the person staying your elite benefits. The person staying should get their own benefits. This is the 100% above board way to do do it that will work for international stays. You do need to make sure it is setup properly though, as there seems to be room for error.