Holidays have been cancelled and hotel bookings scrapped after the collapse of short-term rental service Sonder following the end of a deal with hotel giant Marriott.
The abrupt shutdown has left many travellers stranded without a place to stay.
Once valued at over $1 billion, Sonder filed for ‘Chapter 7 liquidation’ on Monday after Marriott International terminated its licensing deal – forcing the company to wind down operations immediately.
Irishman John Behan had a trip booked for November 24 with his British wife Alix to celebrate her 40th birthday, their 10-year anniversary and their son’s 16th birthday.
He described the customer service from Marriott as ‘rude, wrong and disappointing’ in a post on X.
The family had booked Sonder Henri on 24 and on November 9, received a ‘blunt’ email explaining it was cancelled because of the situation.
‘I thought it was obviously a prank, some sort of kind of scam,’ John told the Daily Mail.
When he called Sonder’s customer service he was greeted with a message saying to contact Marriott Bonvoy.
Irishman John Behan had a trip booked for November 24 with his British wife Alix to celebrate her 40th birthday, their ten-year anniversary and their son’s 16th birthday.
‘What was more frustrating is when you contact Marriott Bonvoy, they were telling us to contact Sonder,’ John explained.
After the refund responsibility being passed between Sonder and Marriott, John was told to go through his card provider.
‘It’s a bit of a weird predicament that they’ve left, a horrible predicament actually, because we’re left now with flights booked and there’s no money in my account to book accommodation,’ John said.
He is now hoping to get a refund through his debit card and has contacted his travel insurance provider.
If he can’t get the funds, John is even considering borrowing from a family member so they can book a hotel. ‘Even that at the minute is looking difficult because it’s so expensive,’ he added.
‘… It was supposed to be such a big kind of occasion where there were so many things getting celebrated at the one time, it’s extremely frustrating,’ John said.
‘But it’s just the customer service and how poor they were with the customer service that has my blood boiling.’
In London, Australian Kianna McKandie, 19, had booked a 17-night stay at The Prince Hotel in Vauxhall and was eight nights in when Sonder staff broke the news and showed an email detailing the situation.
In London , Australian Kianna McKandie, 19, had booked a 17-night stay at The Prince Hotel in Vauxhall and was eight nights in when Sonder staff broke the news and showed an email detailing the situation
She told the Daily Mail: ‘I returned to the hotel just after 12.30pm to grab some stuff. I was stopped outside of my room by one of the workers saying that I was supposed to be out of the hotel at 9am that morning as stated in the email that was sent out to guests.
‘She told me she wasn’t going to rush me and told me to read the email and sort out a replacement hotel for the rest of my trip.
‘I went back out to her not long after saying that I didn’t get any email whatsoever by anyone in the company. She did show me the email, I found it very strange that I didn’t get the email.’
Kianna explained how the holiday was her ‘first big trip away’ without her parents and the situation left her feeling ‘confused, annoyed and sad’.
She was initially given an hour to pack up and arrange alternative accommodation but spent some time on the phone to the flight centre.
The tourist shared how a staff member ‘came back and said that I needed to leave but she gave me the extra 20 minutes’.
Kianna explained how the holiday was her ‘first big trip away’ without her parents and the situation left her feeling ‘confused, annoyed and sad’
After two hours on the phone with the flight centre emergency team, she was finally given somewhere else to stay.
However, as for the Sonder workers, Kianna said they were ‘not helpful at all’.
‘They did nothing to help me try and find new accommodation and kept telling me I had to go through who I booked my trip through,’ she added.
‘After the 20 minutes she told me I had to leave so I was out on the side of the road in the rain all my bags were getting wet and I had some pretty valuable things in on of my bag I’m just glad that they aren’t ruined in any way.’
Connor Harley found his holiday to New York up in the air after he received an email on Sunday evening stating his hotel booking had been cancelled.
The Brit’s trip to the Big Apple was only 32 days away at the time and he was told to make another booking with Marriott after calling up customer service.
He penned on Facebook: ‘I received an email tonight advising me that because Marriott International and Sonder have gone their separate ways, my hotel reservation (which I paid for in full back in February) has been cancelled.’
However, Connor explained how there was ‘no mention’ of what would happen with the money he paid the company months ago.
Connor Harley found his holiday to New York up in the air after he received an email on Sunday evening stating his hotel booking had been cancelled
‘I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect some form of a plan to accommodate customers that you are happy to cancel through no fault of their own,’ he added.
In the end, Connor booked with Hilton Garden Inn but paid a higher price than his original hotel, noting it was ‘more expensive’.
He said: ‘I am now going back to stay in the hotel that I used on my first trip to New York over 10 years ago.’
Many guests have taken to social media to share their ordeal.
One person on TikTok, who uses the handle reece.traveling, posted online: ‘Got kicked out of my hotel today… total nightmare. Marriott dropped Sonders, so now I’m basically homeless.’
Another couple, Minjun and Kevin, also took to TikTok to explain how they were ‘kicked out of our hotel reservation at Sonders in New York City’ that they had booked through Marriott.
In a caption on a ‘Part 2’ video of their experience, they wrote: ‘Our experience getting kicked out of our Sonder hotel in New York City that we had booked through Marriott with less than 24 hours notice while we were in the middle of our reservation.
‘Apparently Sonder defaulted and Marriott terminated their partnership all of a sudden…’
In 2024, Sonder signed a high-profile licensing deal with Marriott International and rebranded its properties as ‘Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy’ — a move meant to bring its short-term rentals under Marriott’s global loyalty program
Sonder allows customers to book apartments worldwide. Sonder leased and managed the properties, rather than simply providing a platform for them to be rented out, like platforms such as Airbnb
It also had a tie-up deal with Marriott Hotels which allowed customers to book one of 10,500 hotel rooms across the world.
After the collapse of Sonder, customers who booked Marriott rooms through the service have been abruptly ejected, some halfway through their stays.
The Daily Mail approached Sonder and Marriott for comment.
