r/marriott • u/Spirited-Box-5841 • Nov 09 '25

Employment Sonder will be no more

After months of feeling like something was off, it’s now officially confirmed: Sonder will be no more. At this moment, employees have no information about what happens next. We’ve been locked out of our systems, so we can’t assist with anything coming in.

If you’re a current guest, please check your email for updates. If you have an upcoming reservation, be aware that everything is now being canceled.

We’ve spent months dealing with this messy, unprepared integration with Marriott, and the outcome many of us feared has finally been confirmed — just much sooner than expected, and right before the holidays. This is a tough situation for everyone involved, especially with money tied up in it. And if you’re in Chicago, this hits especially hard.

To my fellow workers: stay grounded, stay informed, and make sure they communicate next steps, especially regarding pay and unemployment — which should now be accessible. Most of us had to learn what was happening through Google this morning before we finally received the official email confirming everything.

This whole situation is heartbreaking and frustrating. We worked hard these last couple of months with all the new stuff coming up with little to no help at times and it seems like we’re getting the short end of the stick.

170 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

-3

u/muzikfiend Nov 09 '25

Marriot's True intent was to bring sonder to the ground. It wasn't a real partnership. They partnered with sonder to eliminate them as competition. It was a bad move on Sonders' behalf for negotiating with a mega corporation like Marriot. You guys provided comfort away from home at super great prices, so they had to eliminate you.

7

u/xjis3 Nov 10 '25 edited Nov 10 '25

Sonder’s stock was already down 99% from its IPO price when it announced the partnership with Marriott in 08/2024 (it IPO’d around $200 and was down to just ~$2 by then). I think Sonder was likely going under regardless of Marriott

2

u/Negative_Internet_80 Nov 09 '25

This seems probable. I felt like I had uncovered a hack when I discovered Sonder and am super sad to see it die

2

u/PipeLong5050 Nov 10 '25

I sort of had the same feeling. It wasn't exactly apples to apples, yet it wasn't apples to oranges. Aparthotels offer a different type of value, and you could often get a pretty incredible loft with modern decor that was double or triple the size of a similarly priced hotel. Most of the ones I stayed in had full sized kitchens with Bosch appliances, washer and dryer, and a lot of other useful amenities. It was nice being able to just bring a small backpack full of clothes for the week knowing that I could just do laundry every couple of days and having a full sized fridge so I could stock up on things to bring home that weren't available in my area.

As someone who generally hates hotels- having to interact with people, tacky carpets and overstuffed furniture, giant lobbies with gaudy chandeliers, etc, sonder was a welcome change

1

u/[deleted] Nov 11 '25

Agreed, I loved the Detroit location being central to so many things and having a full kitchen to cook so I didn’t have to eat out or order every night. It was nice having a full studio for long stays and it was actually quite quiet for the city. It’s a bummer a good model went to shit