FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Reported changes to Marriott policy for reservation name changes
Old Jul 5, 2025 | 8:08 pm
  #37  
Stgermainparis
10 Countries Visited
20 Countries Visited
30 Countries Visited
10 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, MLife Gold, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Caesars Diamond, Amex Plat
Posts: 6,227
Originally Posted by s3m
You should not mention your stay as it may confuse things. For now, treat the 2 stays as unrelated.

The process for booking a stay for someone else using points cannot be completed via the website, you need to do so via customer support. More details can be found in Booking With Marriott Bonvoy® Points for a Friend?. You cannot reliably book a stay for yourself on points and then "transfer"[1] it to someone else by adding their name to the reservation, some hotels may accept it on arrival but others may not.

There are widespread problems with account theft so a booking made with points requires the account holder to be present when checking in, unless it is a booking made by customer support following the process described in Booking With Marriott Bonvoy® Points for a Friend?. As it stands, with the points booking on your account, a hotel following the Marriott rules strictly will turn your son away.

[1] The language Marriott use in the help article is a little confusing. You can add someone else's name to a booking for various reasons and if you contact Marriott support and ask them to add someone else's name to a booking, they'll do so, but that is not going to transfer the booking to them. You need to specifically mention that you are gifting a reservation to someone else using your points. Marriott customer support has a specific process (that involves verifying account ownership) which I think includes filing a case internally (but at a minimum adds the M8 code). So you need to avoid using language like "add my son to my reservation" and instead specifically state "I am booking a reservation for someone else using my points". The outcome will be that Marriott add your son to the reservation (which is why the help article says "[...] add the recipient's name [...]") but it will follow a different process that will result in your son being able to check in (because the booking will have the M8 booking code).
Wow this is very helpful. I’ll look at the thread and call again. Thank you for this!

Okay, I called again. Agent said his name is on the rez (knew that) and then said she would add the "guest code M8" for him. They didn't want his Marriott number. I got an email update but it didn't say anything different than the previous ones. He is still listed as "additional guest". I am still listed as the primary guest. Is this sufficient? I told her the name of the other guest staying with him and I don't think she entered it (not sure if that matters).

Update: he had no issues checking in. I checked in the next day. I was credited for his two nights but not my own (which I understand). Both rooms were registered to me.

Last edited by Stgermainparis; Jul 24, 2025 at 5:06 am
Stgermainparis is offline