Paying Schengen visa for a friend

Question

I'm a US citizen planning a one-week trip to Europe in a couple of months. Per my citizenship I can enter visa-free for 90 days.

I want to invite an old friend along, who is a citizen of the Philippines (and a current resident of Dubai). I will pay for all her expenses: airfare, train fare, hotel fare, insurance, food, and entry to touristy places.

She is going through the Schengen visa application process. The question I have is how to answer #33: "Cost of travelling and living during the applicant’s stay is covered". This question has both of us a little bit baffled on how to answer.

I can put airfare and the train ticket in her name, but hotels are prepaid in my name, not hers. And as I don't live in the EU, we can't put anything about "Surname and first name of the inviting person(s) in the Member State(s)" or "Name and address of inviting company/organisation".

I want to make sure we do this right. Any help on this matter would be appreciated.

Answer 1

For question 33, Cost of travelling and living during the applicant’s stay is covered, check by a sponsor and other (please specify). Write your name next to the latter check box.

Under means of support, either check accommodation provided and prepaid transport or check all expenses covered, as you see fit. If you want to add something else, you can also check other (please specify) and add it.

For 31, which in this case is asking for name of hotel(s) or temporary accommodation(s) in the member state(s), the fact that the hotel reservations are in your name is not particularly important, but you should probably mention it to avoid confusion. The answer would therefore look something like

Hotel Foo, Somethingstraße 21, Berlin
Hôtel Bar, 22 Rue Something, Paris
(all reserved by Bill Mill)

For 32, name and address of inviting company/organization, leave it blank or write "not applicable."