When Yom Tob falls on Friday, one must prepare an Erub Tabshilin on Thursday afternoon, before the onset of Yom Tob, in order to allow cooking on Yom Tob in preparation for Shabbat. The question arises as to whether a person who spends Yom Tob in a hotel must prepare an Erub Tabshilin. After all, hotel guests do not cook food for Shabbat, as their food is provided by the hotel catering staff, which prepares an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob to allow them to cook food for Shabbat on Yom Tob. Seemingly, as the guests will not be cooking at all in preparation for Shabbat, there is no need for them to make an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob. This question also applies in the case of a young couple spending Yom Tob with parents, who do all the food preparations. In this case, too, the couple is not planning on cooking food for Shabbat, seemingly obviating the need to prepare an Erub Tabshilin.
In truth, this issue is subject to a debate among the Rishonim (Medieval Halachic scholars). Essentially, the question boils down to whether or not an Erub Tabshilin is required to allow lighting Shabbat candles on Friday afternoon when Friday is Yom Tob. Tosafot (Talmud commentaries by Medieval French and German scholars), in Masechet Besa, as well as the Rosh (Rabbenu Asher Ben Yehiel, Germany-Spain, 1250-1327), maintained that one who did not prepare an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob on Thursday afternoon may not light Shabbat candles on Friday afternoon. In their view, just as the Erub Tabshilin is necessary to allow cooking food on Yom Tob for Shabbat, it is also needed to allow lighting candles on Yom Tob for Shabbat. Indeed, some versions of the Erub Tabshilin text make explicit reference to candle lighting as one of the purposes of the Erub ("U’l’adlukeh Sheraga Mi’Yom Tob Le’Shabbat"). According to this view, then, guests are required to prepare an Erub Tabshilin, despite the fact that they have no need to cook for Shabbat, since they do need to light candles for Shabbat.
The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204), however, in his discussion of Erub Tabshilin in Hilchot Yom Tob, makes no mention at all of candle lighting being dependant upon the Erub. And Maran, in the Shulhan Aruch (Orah Haim 527:19), writes explicitly that one may light Shabbat candles on Friday even without having prepared an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob. Therefore, Halacha does not require guests to prepare an Erub Tabshilin before the onset of Yom Tob on Thursday, since they are not cooking and candle lighting is permitted even without the Erub. Nevertheless, Hacham Ovadia Yosef ruled that it is preferable for guests – whether at a hotel or at parents, or in similar situations – to prepare an Erub without a Beracha in order to satisfy all views. This means that they should take the Masa and cooked food and recite the "Be’haden Eruba" text, without the introductory Beracha. This ruling appears in Yalkut Yosef – Sefirat Ha’omer, p. 246 (listen to audio recording for precise citation).
Summary: In a situation where Erub Tabshilin is required, guests who will not be cooking on Yom Tob for Shabbat do not have to prepare an Erub Tabshilin. Nevertheless, it is preferable for them to do so, but without reciting the introductory Beracha.
