thehyrax

Going through this topic I concluded it’s not a good idea to have simultaneous stays… however, I’m in Indonesia right now and was wondering if I can just book 5 nights more (cheap anyway) and leave anyway?

SPN Lifer

The longer you remain checked in to an empty room, the greater the chance housekeeping will notice, and cause you to be checked out.

margarita girl

Personally, I would just tell the FD Mgr what you are doing. You are physically there to check in, so you aren’t breaking any rules. Tell him/her that you would like to keep the room for X days and what date you would like to check out. Prepay your bill.

Smiley90

I need to book two rooms, one for my parent and one for myself.

Can I use my points to book both of these rooms, or is that against the rules? Would one cash and one points be better? I understand I'll only get night credit for one of the rooms anyway, thats not a problem.

Jon Maiman

I have booked 2 to 3 rooms for myself and extended family on points many times. I have never had an issue with it.

Official process is to call MR Bonvoy CS and have them book the second award room for your parent in their name. This is perfectly legitimate and complies with program rules.

Another option I used the last time I did this (3 years ago), I booked two rooms under one reservation in my name. When we arrived onsite, I changed the name on one room over to my sister-in-law. One caveat, if your parent is going to arrive at the property before you do, it would be a good idea to call the front desk ahead of time and let them know so your parent will be able to check in with out you. Caveat, I recently saw at a RI I was staying at (had a sign at the front desk), that they couldn't change the name on award reservations and you had to call Marriott Bonvoy CS to have them do it. Not sure if this is one rogue property or a new systemwide rule change. I only had one room for myself that stay, so I didn't inquire further. iknowthings has there been a recent rule change to this effect (or stricter enforcement of an existing rule)?

Finally, my experience is with hotels located in the USA. YMMV for Europe and Asia where the rules in general tend to be different.

--Jon

Jon Maiman

I forgot, I also booked two rooms on points last summer for a stay in the UK. It was two separate reservations, both in my name. One room for us and one for our daughter. I had submitted a SNA request for a junior suite for one of the rooms. I emailed the hotel informing them it was more important for the rooms to be close to each other than getting the upgrade. Hotel responded very promptly, was happy to assign rooms close to each other and even proactively upgraded one of the rooms to a junior suite allowing me to save my SNA's for another trip. When we arrived, the rooms were literally right across from each other in the hallway. TL;DR it worked fine in Europe too (at least for the Courtyard Exeter). YMMV...

--Jon

Smiley90

Great, thanks. We'll be together so no issue with them arriving before me or anything.

iknowthings

This rule has always been in place. Any deviation from it causes problems with hotel reimbursement for award stays. Award stays must stay fully associated the member's Bonvoy account, including name.

Names can be ADDED to award stays, but should only be added by customer service. This rule is the one that's bent fairly often and contributes to fraud cases, but that's a topic for another thread.

Jon Maiman

Thanks for the quick response and clarifying the details of the policy. I should have been more precise in my original post. Upon arrival at the property for the award stay with two rooms in my name, I had them add my sister-in-law's name to the second room. At least I believe the property added it rather than changing the name. I still got one folio for both rooms at checkout. I added her name so she would be able to get a replacement key without me if needed during the stay.

IIRC many years ago (10+), you could directly add names to an award reservation on the MR website. That was a nice feature.

--Jon