Last year, Marriott announced a deal with Sonder, which was a chain offering apartment-style accommodations in various cities. They integrated Sonder properties earlier this year, enabling members to earn and redeem points at those properties. Unfortunately, yesterday (on a Sunday), Marriott abruptly announced the termination of its agreement with Sonder, telling guests that reservations would not be honored and those who were currently in the midst of a Sonder stay that they must vacate. This sounds like a wild situation for those affected.
Marriott’s announcement indicated that its partnership with Sonder was called off due to “Sonder’s default”. It isn’t clear exactly what that refers to (View from the Wing reports on a few aspects of their agreement to which it might refer), though it sounds like Sonder has perhaps gone out of business entirely. I saw a post in a Facebook group from someone who claimed to be a now laid-off employee of Sonder, saying that they were not given notice prior to Sunday and that desk staff were being locked out of their systems by 9am today. It was mentioned that if a guest got locked out of their room after that time, desk staff would be unable to make a new key.
The fact that future reservations were abruptly cancelled is bad enough, leaving guests with what they thought were confirmed plans out of luck (Marriott says that its priority is helping those guests, though I haven’t yet heard reports of happy customers who were easily reaccommodated; perhaps those reports will come soon). Getting kicked out of apartment-style accommodation with less than 24 hours of notice is awful. I imagine that some guests were booked to stay for weeks, given the type of lodging Sonder provided, but needed to suddenly pack up everything and get out. That sounds like a nightmare.
Most embarrassing for Marriott is that, as View from the Wing reports, they had signed a 20-year licensing deal with Sonder just over a year ago. Terminating that arrangement with almost 19 years left on the term seems like some embarrassingly poor planning/forecasting.
That is the part of this that is really most disconcerting: if Marriott will abruptly end an agreement with a lodging partner on a Sunday barely more than a year into a 20-year partnership agreement, how can guests have confidence in their Marriott reservations? In this case, it sounds like Sonder was collapsing, but who is to say that the same thing couldn’t happen with one of the many groups that owns a Marriott-affiliated property? If Marriott didn’t see this coming when they announced the partnership 15 months ago, what else are they missing?
Hopefully, Marriott can reaccommodate those affected by this by putting them in equivalent or better hotels, and hopefully, they will more carefully consider future licensing partnerships so as not to leave guests in the lurch like this.
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This is even worse than the usual “being Bonvoyed”. Even more reason I put zero energy into this brand.
Marriott’s out to reclaim their Bonvoy Award this year!
Old Mr. Marriott is rolling over in his grave. Marriott should have never went into business with Sonder, who made false and misleading statements in its financial filings. This was not a good deal from the start. If I were a serious investor/shareholder in Marriott I’d be asking serious questions about other deals Marriott has inked.
Word is Marriott has not been doing anything to help affected guests, other than suggesting they make new reservations at other Marriott properties, at the prevailing rates.