Yes Emma, that is the situ with all hotels I have used.  You must show ID of where you reside or something similar ie passport or photo part of driving licence (which will have real name) so unless you have working flat or something similar that you have rented under another name you have to give your own name.

Not ideal but its only hotels covering themselves.

Hi Lady Lust

thanks for responding.   Well it definitley makes sense and abroad I always have to show ID so I was surprised when someone posted the other day that you didnt.
Emma

i thnk it my post your refering to i may have worded it wrongly or it was read in the wrong way not sure so i will clear it up

 i use my prepaid card that i have in a diiferent name from mine to make booking  for me  ( if that makes sense )

for example   if you Anika  asked me to make a booking for you for a hotel but you didnt have  credit card ect  i would put it on my pre paid credit card and  on the booking form  it will  states is this booking for you or someone else 
i  tick the box  someone else as its not for me  and then put your real name as its you who is turning up at the hotel
the credit card is only used to reserve the room - there is no attempt to take payment taken off  only ifyou dont turn up     (however as there is no money on the card anyway they cant take any money off it )

When you get to the hotel you just give them either the reservation number that you will have from the online booking or you give them whatever  name you booked it in ( ie your real name)
but i have never been asked in the uk for id such as  passport  for a room as they take a imprint of my real credit card when i arrive its only if you want to pay cash in the uk or when your abroad that they ask to see the passport generally   
However you really wanted to cover your track as best as possible  and you have a genuine credit card with credit on it   you could apply for second card holder in a different or similar  name to yours and use that to pay for the hotel when you book and say thats you   BUT you could still use the pre paid card to book the room in the first place     


The purpose that i use pre paid credit cards for is so that if im touring and my plans change or something happens like the ash cloud and i cant get to the hotel  the hotels cant take any money of my own personal credit  card as there is no money on the card for them to take off  it purley used to reserve the room thats all when i arrive i pay with my real credit card   

    just   but as long as you have the booking reference number for the booking  there wont be a problem  i have been doing it this way for around 18month with no problems and again   when i book online  i use a the made up name of the pre paid credit card  to reserve the room for myself  so its joe bloggs booking the room for mrs xxx
 
i have proper credit card with limits on in both my married and maiden name as a second card holder on other halfs account  that i use to pay when i arrive   

for the pre paid credit cards themselves   im not sure if im allowed to post links but ...
 There is no id check i have just filled out the form for a credit card it took 2 mins ( i will have two more card in a a week  ) 

 http://www.mycashplus.co.uk/
 they ask if you have passport i ticked no   but i do
they ask if you have a bank account i ticked no  but i do
i said i wanted to pay cash at the post office
they will send me a letter to an address that i used i take that to the post office and pay for it with cash   

There are different level of cards
Express  and total access   http://www.mycashplus.co.uk/customer-help/unlock-card-uses.aspx
with express your only able to withdraw up to 800 pounds a year until they verify your detail but if you only use it for booking online as i do for hotels where they just use the number to reserve the room then you only need the express type

if you want to be able to use it to get wages paid into or top up from a bank account then you need to be verified and that   

they only want identification from you if you want to actually put more than around 800 pounds or want to get your wages from your job paid on to it or to be able to transfer money from your bank account on it
if you want to do this then they want to verifiy you via passport and electrol roll or  bills ect   


im sorry if the way it was worded  seem to be confusing or anyone didnt understand what i meant

i use my working flat address  and  sim card thats not in use  ive also used my mums as well and a few other address in the past
   
you need to be able to pick it up at whatever address you registered it however i think if you have a debit or credit card you can pay with that and they will post it to you but im not sure if it has to be yours or it can be a friends so check that out
also its worth applying at the same time for an additional card holder in a different name as well the total cost for two card to collect at the post office is 14.95   
nothing has ever come back to me you might get an email from booking.com or the hotel telling you that they will charge the card if as you didnt  turn up but they cant get money off the card     
as i said i only use mine for securing the room not paying for it it makes touring a lot easier to do for me   

when applying for one it asks for the name, email address, mobile number and address.
Obviously I will put in a fake name and email address, but what about the mobile number and address?
Should I use a different number? It wont matter too much about the address because if anything was ever traced back to it with that card then I would just say that person doesnt live here.

Thanks for clarifying Paris

Amy - I dont have an anonymous credit card.  I applied for one with Splash but haven't received it.

To book this hotel, we did it via the official hotel website and I paid with my actual visa credit card.  They asked for photo id upon check in.  Its a 4 star hotel in South Ken

Not for working, just up for the weekend - visiting etc

( Honestly thinking back hotels have always asked us for ID, but dont usually stay in hotels in London as I used to live here so there wasnt any need until I moved away.)

I dont have an anonymous card either and many a time I am asked for ID especially when in NI and I also pay via CC or DC.