When the AP is sold out, what hotels are nearby?

[TheCotMan]

Imagine that 2 people are going to share a room. One reserves the room with a credit card and then later on is unable to go. Why should the other party lose out on the room as well? I'd think just a phone call to the AP explaining the situation would allow the other person to submit a credit card in lieu of the one who can no longer attend.

One year I reserved 2 or 3 rooms on my credit card, and then handed off the other rooms to other people that I knew who were notorious for doing things at the last minute. This worked for me. I gave the people I knew (and trusted) my reservation numbers, and the AP was able to leave one room for me, and deal the rest out to my buddies.
(The new people still had to pre-pay for one night each, and my prepayment on rooms, was not refunded but applied to my own room.)