Neither the card nor the person the card belongs to needs to be present as long as a credit card authorization form is filled out in advance. You would need to contact the property and get them to fax or email the form to the person paying the bill. They would return it to the property before the guest they are paying for checks in. This is done every day at every property. Properties somewhere in the back office will have thick binders full of these for months or years at a time.