Hotels.com - earning credit for someone else
 

So I have been loyal to hotels.com for a while, I like the way their rewards program works, you get a 10% return, it's stright forward and simple.

I was wondering, is it allowed according to their rules to book hotel rooms for others while earning the credit for it assuming I will not be staying with them? I know it's possible and have done so in the past with friends and family but now that I already have over 12 nights to use (around 128 nights stayed with the site) am a little worried doing so and risking an account closure.

yes it is posdible, I have made several bookings with my account for familys stays without problems and always git my nights credited.

It's best to consult the fine print of the program. Whether other people have gotten credit is irrelevant if the Terms & Conditions say it's not allowed. (It's like expecting a police officer not to give you a ticket just because other people are also speeding.)

According to the Hotels.com Rewards Terms & Conditions:
What is important here is that "you" is defined as the following:
Source: http://www.hotels.com/customer_care/...onditions.html

"You" means you...not your friends and family.

Implemented practice matters, and in this regard it need not be a duplicate of policy as articulated above. In practice, it's rather systematic to get stay credit in Hotels.com program even for reservations made in the name of other guests while logged into hotels.com. Combine this with cashback portal use and this program is rather awesome in practice for consumers. ;)

The Terms and Conditions provide the official answer to the question posed. The fact that other people cheat the system doesn't change that.

I've managed it, certainly, although I do it very rarely. A friend needed a room booked because he was staying on in HKG, and I got him a deal on hotels.com that was way, way cheaper than what he had been quoted by hotel itself. I told him I would collect points for that and he was fine with it, because he doesn't do any of this stuff, not being a frequent traveller. He was pleased with the rate, anyway. As always, I wouldn't do this all the time, just occasionally, according to need.

I'm confused, I do this literally all the time, with no issue, multiple nights a week for work. My reading of those terms is that I can book on the website and I can collect the nights, doesn't say it matters who is staying.

"You collect 1 night"
and
"The term 'you' refers to the customer visiting the Website and/or booking a reservation"

So I can visit the website and I can book the room and I will get the credit, who cares whose name is on the reservation. What I can't do is book online, in my account, and have someone else collect the 1 free night.

Either I'm doing this wrong, and have done it wrong A LOT, or the above reading of the t&cs is correct.

Good luck

Notice that when viewing an existing Hotels.com ressie, the webpage offers the option to 'attach this stay to another account.' So it presupposes that someone may book for a friend/ relative, who then says, 'Please let me earn the credit for my stay.'
Cashback sites cannot officially & openly encourage purchases for friends of members due to tax consequences! The IRS would call it 'taxable income' for working as an down-low travel agent or purchasing agent! But given that hotels.com doesn't pay cash, only free rooms. . .

Some time ago, I remember there was a note in the Hotels.com Reward Program saying: Collect nights even if you book for somebody else. I am now exactly in the same position and wanted to confirm before I book. Alas, I cannot find it any more.

By the way, I did get the nights, if you are interested. So, as of February 2019, it still works OK. I booked in somebody else's name while logged into my profile.

Delete.