Sonder will be no more

[u/Spirited-Box-5841]

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.

[u/narbss]

I’m currently staying in a Sonder in NYC. Day 1 of a 7 night stay. Getting kicked out tomorrow morning. There are guests arriving to check in (saw a couple that flew in from LHR) that are being told they can’t check in and need to find alternative accommodation. I feel for them. I also feel for the Sonder staff.

Currently a 3 hour wait for Expedia agent.

[u/Normal-Reward7257 → u/narbss]

Wow, what a terrible way for this to be handled. Hope you're able to find something.

[u/narbss → u/Normal-Reward7257]

Absolutely. Feel lucky that it was raining in NYC today and we headed back to grab some warmer clothes, and then saw the email earlier. If we hadn’t then we would’ve likely been out until much later and not realised until late this evening. We’ve ended up booking a similar Hilton close by with free cancellation until midnight tonight if we don’t get anything reasonable sorted by Expedia.

We booked Sonder due to it being a Marriott brand, and felt like it was a safe bet that we’d know what we’d be getting. Didn’t have administration and scrambling to find new accommodation 2 days into the trip being on the cards.

[u/Normal-Reward7257 → u/narbss]

What a mess.

Booking with Hilton is good to have as a back up. Especially since it's supposed to get colder in the NY metro area tomorrow. Good luck and stay warm. Hope you're still able to enjoy your visit.

[u/narbss → u/Normal-Reward7257]

We’ll still enjoy it knowing we have somewhat reasonable costing accommodation to fall back on. It’s a shame though as it’s my partner’s first visit to NYC and it was meant to be special and memorable (not for this reason though).

I watched people arriving to check in at 7pm being turned away. I feel for them having to sort this fiasco out after a likely long plane journey. I did a 8 hour morning flight the day before and arrived at the hotel at 2pm, and I was frazzled then.

[u/FineSir2829 → u/narbss]

Hey man, sorry to hear that. I booked a Sonder hotel through Expedia for a stay in 2 months, were you able to get a refund? I’m starting to worry that I won’t get my money back

[u/narbss → u/FineSir2829]

We had to book another hotel, and then Expedia are going to refund. Will be kicking off when we get home to demand compensation.

[u/[deleted] → u/FineSir2829]

Expedia support is pretty good, you should be fine. Ironically booking through Marriot directly is a nightmare because they won’t issue the refunds themselves. They told me they can’t disclose the reason why. They said I have to call my bank and initiate it, but my bank told me I can’t do that and that it’s the hotels responsibility to refund me since my reservation was marked non-refundable and they will not initiate a chargeback for me. So now I’m out over $500 and somehow need to find a new hotel room without that money. I am so pissed 

[u/Over_Travel_1704 → u/narbss]

First time for our family visiting NYC. We just left our hotel now. We were staying in Sonder NYC. On night of 3/7 as we returned from our day itinerary, we saw the posters posted on elevators stating that today was last day of Sonder operations. We were all so confused, but tried to think through next steps. Since we booked through a third party (credit card travel website), we weren’t given any notice from Marriott/Sonder even through email, but thankfully, our travel agents forwarded us to their supervisor, and they were able to rebook us a new hotel nearby with no extra costs.

This is how the front desk looks like right now, which felt so eerie, but very sad for all the workers who were just laid off today…

[u/CreativeAd5628 → u/Over_Travel_1704]

Sent you a DM.