A "trip for two" sounds like the giveaway did the hard part for you — pick a person, pack a bag, go. But the second seat is the most heavily regulated part of a travel prize. The rules dictate who your guest can be, what happens if you'd rather go alone, and how much of the tax bill lands on each of you. The companion clause is where a "free" vacation quietly grows teeth. 📍

Who your "+1" is allowed to be

Read the guest requirements before you invite anyone, because sponsors box in the second traveler tightly. The near-universal rule: your guest must be a legal adult (18+, sometimes 21+) by the travel date — which quietly kills the "family trip with the kids" fantasy on a two-person prize. Many rules go further and require the guest be a legal resident of the same country as you, and a few tie the companion to a relationship, most often a spouse. Where minors are allowed, the sponsor almost always demands a notarized parental-consent and travel-authorization form signed by both legal guardians, which is a real errand, not a formality.

The paperwork is the part people underestimate. Your guest is typically required to sign the same affidavit of eligibility, liability release, and publicity release you do — often notarized and returned inside a tight window (frequently 7 to 10 days). If your chosen companion won't sign the publicity release, refuses to be photographed, or can't get a valid passport in time for an international trip, they are disqualified as your guest, and some rulesets don't let you swap in a replacement afterward. The second seat is usually flagged non-transferable and no cash substitute, so you can't sell it, gift it, or convert it to money if your plans change.

The single-supplement trap if you travel solo

Here's the counterintuitive cost: choosing to travel alone can make a free trip more expensive. Hotel rooms and cruise cabins are priced for double occupancy, and the prize was valued on two people splitting one room. Go solo and many operators charge a single supplement — a surcharge that commonly runs 25% to 100% of the room or cabin rate to cover the "empty" second bed. On cruises the single supplement is notoriously steep, sometimes effectively doubling the per-person fare. That fee is almost always the winner's responsibility, buried in the "unused portions are forfeited and non-refundable" language.

So the fine print creates a strange bind. If you don't have a guest, you may forfeit the companion airfare and still owe a supplement on the room — paying extra for the privilege of using less. Before you decline the +1, price the single supplement against just bringing someone. A friend who covers their own incidentals is often cheaper than the solo surcharge, and it keeps the prize's stated value intact for the taxes you're about to owe.

Both of you may owe taxes and forms

A trip valued at its retail total — airfare, hotel, transfers, sometimes a spending stipend — is taxable income to the winner in the U.S. Prizes of $600 or more trigger a 1099-MISC from the sponsor, and the full Approximate Retail Value (ARV), including your guest's half, is generally reported under your name. You pay income tax on a vacation two people took. On a $10,000 trip in the 22% bracket, that's roughly $2,200 out of pocket for a "free" prize — due at tax time, in cash.

Your guest isn't always off the hook on paperwork, either. While the taxable value usually lands on the primary winner, the companion still typically signs their own liability and publicity releases, and on international trips carries their own passport, visa, and any entry requirements. Sort the money conversation before you invite someone: decide who absorbs the tax hit, confirm both of you can produce documents on the sponsor's deadline, and keep the ARV breakdown the sponsor provides. 🧾

Vet your +1, price the solo surcharge, and budget the tax before you say "we won" — the second seat has its own rulebook.