Originally Posted by Westcoaster
You're obviously talking about non-Hampton properties here. My experience doesn't agree with yours. I have never had a hotel tell me that the second person must be a spouse or domestic partner. The benefit is called Spouse Stays Free, but the wording says something about the charge for the 2nd person being waived. In my many years with Hilton that is the way it is applied. My mother was with me one time and they certainly didn't tell me I had to pay extra for her.
Have you ever been told by a hotel that you had to pay more for the room because your roommate was not your spouse?
No, because every time I've booked a room with someone who was not my wife, it was at a Hampton.
That said, the specific wording of Spouse Stays Free says the following:
Spouse stays free: When you travel with your spouse, he or she stays free in your room on every qualifying HHonors stay. (Does not apply to package features and not available at Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites® or all-inclusive hotels.)
Whether individual hotels wish to expand the policy to include any second person is at their discretion. The policy, however, does not specifically allow that second person to be anyone other than a spouse/domestic partner.
Mike