Can I use my hotel points, Avios or Virgin Points to pay for someone else or transfer them?

I have booked quite a few stays and flights for other people recently, so I thought it could be worth a quick run-through on which companies allow this and how you do it. It is interesting that some airlines such as BA, allow you to book for anyone using your account online, which makes it easier for fraud, whereas some hotels make it hard to book a room for someone else.

Airlines

British Airways

Can I book for someone else? Yes. It is very simple and easy to do from your account.

How do I do this? Simply book an Avios flight with the passenger’s name and remember to fill in the question which says is the person paying travelling on this booking (no)?

Can I transfer my Avios to someone else or share them? It is very easy to share a small amount of Avios with someone as you can transfer up to 27,000 Avios to another Executive Club Member each calendar year. There is a charge, but it is relatively small now at a flat fee of £15. The other alternative, if you wish to do it regularly, is a household account which is for up to 6 people. There are some drawbacks to this such as Avios being taken from each person in proportion to their balances each time you make a booking. Also people in the account can’t use their Avios for people outside the household account. You can no longer just use your own Avios to book. You can read about household accounts here. 

Virgin Atlantic

Can I book for someone else? Yes

How do I do this? Just book as normal on the Virgin website.

Can I transfer my Virgin Points to someone else or share them? The person you are transferring points to must be a Flying Club member and you will need the details of their Flying Club account to complete the transfer. The minimum number of points you can transfer is 1,000 and Points can be transferred in increments of 1,000. The maximum points that can be transferred in a calendar year is 100,000. However, there is a hefty fee to do it – £75 to transfer 10,000 points for example. 

Flying Club Gold members can transfer points free of charge to make a reward booking. They can also create a Household Account and link a maximum of nine Flying Club memberships with the same household address as the Gold member. All points earned by Household account members will automatically transfer to the Gold member’s account, but each member will earn their own Tier Points towards earning status.

Hotels

Marriott Bonvoy

I recently booked a Marriott stay for someone else, and it was quite a faff, but at least it means your account is reasonably secure if your account got hacked. The stays are known as a gifted stay and 

Can I book for someone else? Yes anyone.

How do I do this? This is only available by phone to your local Marriott centre (numbers on this page). You will have to go through security questions to establish that it is your account, and then the room gets booked in both names even if you are not staying, which is very odd. 

I found the process as painful as having teeth extracted! The person I spoke to had very poor English and did not seem to understand me. Everything took forever for her to do and then despite spelling and saying the name of the person multiple times including phonetically which was a very simple, common name) she managed to spell it as a completely different name! I can only hope it was a new member of staff and that it is not normally this bad. When I called the same number back to have the spelling corrected, they were much better, thankfully. 

Can I transfer my Marriott points to someone else or share them? You can transfer your Marriott Bonvoy® Points to another Member’s Account, but only by contacting Marriott via phone directly (find the number here Customer Support Page) 

Both Marriott Bonvoy® Accounts must be in good-standing and have each been open for at least thirty (30) days with Qualifying Activity, ninety (90) days without Qualifying Activity. The minimum Transfer amount is 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy® Points. You can transfer up to a maximum of 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy® Points, per calendar year, to other Accounts. A Member can receive up to a maximum of 500,000 Marriott Bonvoy® Points, per calendar year, from other Member Accounts, as long as the Accounts are in good-standing and have each been open for at least thirty (30) days with Qualifying Activity, ninety (90) days without Qualifying Activity.

Hilton Honors

Can I book for someone else? Yes, but also by transferring “pooling” the points to them.

How do I do this? Simply transfer the points as per below and then they can book themselves.  Or you can call Reservations and book the stay yourself. Make sure their name and information (phone no, address, email) is on the stay so that they can check in. Ask the reservationists to place a note in the comments section detailing that the stay is a gift (example: John Smith is gifting this stay to his daughter Jane Smith for the amount of 40,000 points.) This way, if there is any confusion about the account holder not being present the hotel should be able to check the notes and determine that the stay is not fraud.

Can I transfer my Honors points to someone else or share them? Points Pooling allows Hilton Honors Members to combine their Points with family and friends to book a stay. With this perk, a Member (and up to 10 others) will now be able to combine their Points. You can combine Points, free of charge, with up to 11 other people into one account. That person could then book a reward stay. 

IHG Rewards

Can I book for someone else? Yes

How do I do this? You can book a Reward Night for someone else by making a booking via IHG’s website or the IHG One Rewards App and then adding an additional name to the reservation.

Can I transfer my points to someone else or share them? Yes, IHG One Rewards points can be transferred to another IHG One Rewards member in 1,000-point increments for a fee of $5 USD per 1,000 points. To transfer points, visit the Transfer Points page.

World of Hyatt

Can I book for someone else? Yes

How do I do this? The best option is for top-tier Globalist status members who can use the Guest of Honor benefit to give others similar perks to themselves.  Hyatt allows you to make award bookings online, but you’ll need to phone agent to add someone else to the reservation. If you are not gold technically you could book the stay for yourself with a second guest but some countries are funny about the second guest checking in on their own, so you’d be better off transferring points if you can. 

Can I transfer my points to someone else or share them? Hyatt points can be transferred to any other member for free by filling in this form. You can only make a transfer once every 30 days. However, both accounts must have had one stay in the last 12 months.