Can You Redeem Hotel Points For Others? Yes, You Just Have To Know How

One of the nice things about miles & points is being able to share the gift of travel with friends and family. Now, ideally we’d always be able to go along on those journeys, but there are some situations where that’s not practical, for obvious reasons. Many people wonder if it’s possible to share their points with others, so they can enjoy a hotel stay. This is a great question, so I’d like to take a look at the policy of each individual program. While hotel loyalty programs in some ways offer more flexibility than airline loyalty programs, this isn’t necessarily one of those areas, as you sometimes have to jump through some hoops. For what it’s worth, in a separate post, I’ve addressed whether you can redeem airline miles for others. Hotel policies on redeeming points for othersAccor Live LimitlessChoice PrivilegesGHA DiscoveryHilton HonorsIHG One RewardsMarriott BonvoyWorld of HyattWyndham RewardsWhat about the second guest on a reservation trick?Redeem hotel points for others FAQsBottom line Hotel policies on redeeming points for others All major hotel loyalty programs have some sort of policy for allowing you to redeem your points for others. In some cases you can directly make a reservation for others, while in other cases you need to transfer your points to another member (at no cost). Let’s break this down by program. Before we start, let me emphasize a couple of important points: This is only intended for situations where you want to redeem for friends and family, and not for selling points to others; selling rewards points violates the rules of virtually every travel loyalty program, and you could get in trouble if you’re caught doing this Unless otherwise specifically noted below, you won’t receive points or elite credit when you book a stay for someone else, and that person also won’t receive any elite perks you may usually be entitled to; for more details, see my post on using your hotel elite perks for others With that out of the way, let’s get into it… Accor Live Limitless Accor Live Limitless (ALL) is the one hotel loyalty program that doesn’t let you redeem points for others. However, that’s not necessarily a huge loss. Keep in mind that Accor’s program is revenue based, and every 1,000 Accor points gets you €20 toward a hotel stay folio. You can use this for your own rooms or the rooms of those traveling with you, but you can’t just gift them to a third party. Fairmont Vancouver Airport Choice Privileges Choice Privileges allows members to redeem points for reward nights for immediate family members, including a spouse, partner, children parents, in-laws, brothers, and sisters. You can book a reward night for someone else in one of two ways. If you book through your online profile, be sure to include the name of the guest who will be staying in the room in the “Special Request” field. Alternatively, if booking by phone, ask the reservations agent to include the name of the guest in the notes field of the reservation. Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel Chicago GHA Discovery Global Hotel Alliance’s GHA Discovery program is one that I’ve become increasingly intrigued by in recent times, given that it’s associated with dozens of independent hotel groups. GHA Discovery doesn’t have points, but instead, has D$, or Discovery Dollars, as they’re called. Each D$ gets you a dollar off an eligible hotel stay. What’s cool is that you can actually transfer your D$ to others. A transfer can be initiated through the GHA Discovery app, and you just have to enter the recipient’s membership number and last name. You can begin sharing D$ if you’ve been a member of the program for at least 90 days, and you can perform or receive up to two transfers daily, with a minimum of D$100 and a maximum of D$500 per transaction. Capella Taipei Hilton Honors The best way to book a Hilton Honors stay for someone else is to simply transfer points to their Hilton Honors account. Hilton has a free points sharing feature, whereby you can transfer points to another Hilton Honors member. You can transfer no more than 500,000 points to another member, and can receive no more than two million points per calendar year from others. That’s the easiest and most foolproof way to go about this. One alternative is that you could call Hilton Honors to make a reservation, and explain you want to redeem your points for others. They might be able to book the reservation so that the second guest is listed on the reservation, and it’s documented that this is a gift. However, this might not be quite as seamless as just transferring your points to someone else. One other option people use is that they’ll make a booking in their own name, and then in the “Add guest names” field on the payment page on Hilton’s website or app, they’ll add the name of the guest in the “Additional guests” field. I’ll talk more about this below — while this might work, it’s not really the official method you should use. Waldorf Astoria Dubai International Financial Centre IHG One Rewards IHG One Rewards’ official policy is that you can book a reward night (either with points or free night awards) for someone else by making a booking via IHG’s website, and then adding an additional name to the reservation. In other words, you’re basically just making a reservation for yourself, with a second guest listed. There’s also a comments section when making an IHG booking, so I’d recommend writing in that section about your intention to gift an award to someone else. Kimpton EPIC Miami Marriott Bonvoy Marriott Bonvoy allows you to redeem your points directly for others, with some restrictions: You need to book your reservation by phone, by contacting Bonvoy customer support You can book up to five gifted reservations per account per calendar year You can only gift Bonvoy points toward a reservation, and can’t gift free night awards Another option is that Marriott Bonvoy lets you combine points between accounts. You can transfer up to 100,000 points per calendar year, and you can receive up to 500,000 points per calendar year. That’s the biggest restriction, as 100,000 points won’t get you very far, at least for an extended luxury hotel stay. Still, this is a feature I find to be useful. St. Regis Venice World of Hyatt With World of Hyatt there are a couple of practical ways to redeem points for others. The first is that World of Hyatt lets you outright redeem points or free night certificates for others. This can simply be done by contacting World of Hyatt customer service by phone, and they can process this request, or alternatively, you can transfer reward certificates to someone else’s World of Hyatt account. If you have World of Hyatt Globalist status, keep in mind that you can also earn Guest of Honor certificates. These allow you to essentially share your Globalist perks with a friend or family member, regardless of whether or not they’re traveling with you. You can apply this either to a stay booked with cash or points, and you can either book the Guest of Honor award out of your account, or you can transfer the Guest of Honor certificate to someone else. You even get one elite night credit in your own account for each certificate that’s gifted to someone else, after it’s redeemed. This is one of my favorite loyalty perks out there, and it’s a great way to share hotel elite status perks with others. The other thing to keep in mind is that Hyatt lets you combine points with anyone else at no cost, and this can be done online, through the Hyatt website or app. The person doesn’t have to be related to you, and doesn’t have to live at the same address as you. The only limitations are that you can transfer up to 525,000 points per year, and can make no more than six points transfers per calendar year. This is probably the easiest option, since the person can just directly redeem out of their own account. Alila Hinu Bay Wyndham Rewards Wyndham Rewards allows members to redeem points for reward nights for friends and family, with no limitations. This is super straightforward. You can book a stay using points in someone else’s name either directly through the Wyndham Rewards website, or by calling Wyndham Rewards member services. There are no hoops to jump through. The Mining Exchange Colorado Springs, Registry Collection by Wyndham What about the second guest on a reservation trick? People will often point out “oh, the best way to make a hotel reservation for someone else is to just book it for yourself, and then add the actual guest as the second person on the reservation.” As people view it, the upside is that it lets you earn points, and also share elite perks with others. However, unless explicitly noted above, this isn’t how it’s supposed to work. It goes without saying that technically you’re only supposed to be able to earn points and take advantage of elite perks if you are actually staying, as the elite member. That’s not to say that this method won’t work sometimes. However, there are some things to keep in mind: In some countries outside the United States, hotels may legally require the passports of all guests, which makes it tricky to no show as the primary guest Some hotels may only extend elite perks once the actual elite member is there, so don’t expect to get away with that consistently This obviously gets tricky if you make a reservation for two people, and two people are actually staying, with neither person being the member who made the reservation Hotels can also report you to corporate, and you could get in trouble if you’re found to be making a pattern of this I play by the rules, but there are also plenty of situations where Ford arrives at a hotel before I do (I often take a different and more circuitous routing to get places), and he almost never has issues checking in, and I never even have to go to the front desk. I’m not making a judgment call here one way or another, but I would only even remotely consider doing this if you and the actual guest both know what you’re doing. I wouldn’t count on the second guest method consistently Can you redeem hotel points for someone else? Yes, almost every major hotel loyalty program lets you redeem points for others. Some let you book a stay in another person’s name, and others require you to transfer points to the traveler’s account. Accor Live Limitless is the one major exception, but that’s also just a revenue based program. Which hotel programs let you book an award stay for a friend or family member? Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, and Wyndham Rewards, all allow you to book a reward night for another guest. GHA Discovery lets you transfer your Discovery Dollars to others. Do you earn points or elite credit when you book a hotel stay for someone else? Generally no. Unless a program says otherwise, you won’t earn points or elite night credit, and the guest won’t receive your elite perks, when redeeming points for others. World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor certificates are the main exception, and you get one elite night credit when the certificate is redeemed. Is it okay to sell hotel points to someone? No, selling hotel points breaks the rules of virtually every loyalty program, and you could lose your account or points. Gifting points to friends and family is different and is allowed under each program’s terms. Is it safe to book a hotel under your name and add the other person as a second guest? It sometimes works, but it isn’t the official method, and the risks are worth considering. Some countries require passports from every guest, hotels may withhold elite perks if the member isn’t there, and a pattern of this could get you in trouble with the hotel company. Use an official gifting method when you can. Can you transfer hotel points to another person? Yes, with GHA Discovery, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt, you can transfer your points or rewards to others at no cost. Bottom line Just about all major hotel loyalty programs let you redeem points for others, though the process varies by program. In some cases you can transfer your points to others, while in other cases you can just redeem a reward for others. Regardless of which method you choose, just keep in mind that you can’t barter hotel points, and also that your elite perks generally won’t transfer over to others (with the exception of World of Hyatt’s Guest of Honor feature). If you’ve redeemed hotel points for others, what was your experience like?