Earn points without staying in the room?
 

I booked a one night stay at the lowest, non-refundable rate. However, I don't now need to stay. Since I will have to pay anyway, is it possible to get the points without actually going to the hotel and checking in?

Thanks in advance.

No you need to check in

whether you then actually sleep in the room is a different matter.

Thanks.
I just called the hotel, he checked my reservation and said that I would still get the points, even if I don't come to the hotel and check in. He even said I'd get the Platinum welcome points.
Is this possible or do you think he was ill-informed?

Very ill-informed. I've never received points, etc. when no-showing (due to flight cancellation, etc.)

Nonetheless, let us know how it goes... Glitches do happen.

Properties are not encouraged to do “phantom” stays. You might find an employee willing to check you in, but the property might get into trouble if you publicize it.

Most hotels have to mark you as checked in, for it to credit the stay.

Typically, there are several rounds of checks at any decently-run hotel that will ensure that a checked-in but vacant room doesn't get points and/or night/stay credit with the frequent guest program. The average Front Desk clerk wouldn't know about these checks unless she or he is crossed trained. So, don't take the word of the Front Desk as gospel here.

Although it will vary depending upon job responsibilities and size of the hotel (smaller hotels might combine tasks into a single job), here are example of the various checks:

• Night Auditor: The Night Auditor will use reports like key logs to verify that checked-in rooms actually have guests in them.
• Housekeeping: On the check-out day, Housekeeping will note any room that was checked-in but vacant. Those rooms should get investigated by someone. (Who that someone is will vary by property. Sometimes it's a Front Desk Supervisor. Or in some cases it might be the Executive Housekeeper.)
• Auditor of the Night Auditor: Before the nightly numbers are finalized, someone will audit the work of the Night Auditor. One part of that process is verifying that no-show rooms are properly categorized. (This task can be performed by different people within the accounting department. Large hotels will have a dedicated staff member known as an Income Auditor. Limited-service hotels might hand this task over to Accounts Receivable. In the smallest of hotels, this function is usually handled by the Accounting Manager.)
• Hotel Controller/General Manager: The final check would be the Hotel Controller and/or General Manager (at smaller properties). Although given the fact that no-shows would have been checked multiple times by the time it reaches this step, it's theoretically possible that whoever finalizes the financial data might take a personal interest in ensuring no-shows rooms aren't receiving points or night/stay credits.

There are a couple reasons why hotels want to be accurate and mark these cases as no-shows. First, no-shows are tracked differently by accounting. Second, no-shows aren't counted in terms of sales goals for bonuses for Sales Managers and other salary-plus-bonus positions. Next, hotels don't have to pay occupancy taxes on no-shows in some municipalities. Fourth, most hotel groups require hotels to accurately disclose the total number of occupied rooms every night. And finally, hotels aren't required to pay the hotel group for points on no-show rooms.

[In my hospitality career, I worked in the following positions: Front Desk Representative, Front Desk Supervisor, Income Auditor, and Revenue Manager (a salary-plus-bonus job where no-shows directly affected my compensation). The above information is based on that experience.]

All depends on who runs the hotel. I don't want to go into details and ruin my deal with my current hotel.....I have a deal worked out with a Hilton hotel where the GM gave me his personal number and I just text him weekly to get me a stay there for business travel and never stay. Also worked out a huge bonus points package too with him that is crazy.

I will put this Disclaimer though:
****Please note by taking risks like this violates terms and conditions of every single hotel loyalty program and could result in your company terminating your employment with them.

Yes, this was my understanding, we shall see!

Thanks for the very detailed and informed reply. I'm amazed that hotels go to these lengths!

That's very interesting. The person who answered the phone introduced himself as the manager and was adamant that I would get the points. Interestingly, I asked if my card had been charged yet or if it would happen on the day of the stay. He said that it had already been charged. Then, 5 minutes after I got off the phone to him, I got an alert saying that the payment had been processed on my card. Is it possible that he has revenue targets to hit and by calling and saying I'm not staying, he decided that he'd process the payment and will "check me in" on the day.......? We'll see.

How does this work in hotels in which key cards and locks are offline? (I'd conjecture non-networked systems are still the most common ones.)

Also, how is it done in the EU after the introduction of the general data protection? Even if you have network integration regulation in 2018? It is most likely illegal to collect data on guests entering the room without the guest's explicit consent.

Very detailed, but on several occasions I've done mattress runs where I couldn't even be bothered to enter the room. And I certainly never make a mess for housekeeping to clean up even when I visit the room to collect complimentary bottled water, etc.

So those two points are very YMMV based on individual hotel policies. Unlike others on FT, I don't think that my data points make up a hard and fast rule for everybody, but I have done it more than enough times to know that few, if any, hotels care where you slept... as long as you checked in physically and in person...

I've done many many cheap mattress runs on hotels on my route as I was passing to meet the offers targets like accelerate, always had them credit for stays and points.
I tend to just check in and head to the room, get the bottled water like someone else mentioned then leave.

Same for me. I think if you want to do 2 nights, you are safe checking in for the first night, make a physical appearance in the room, then just skip the second and check out via mobile app the following morning(not sure if the IHG app has this yet or not, but you could always call and check out that way as well).

Also not sure if there may be legal requirements in some areas after incidents like the Mandalay Bay shooting (welfare checks after xxx days etc).

Depending on what you mean by "business travel" isn't this illegal too? Even risking a job for some hotel nights and points seems unwise.