Hotel guests around the world were left “homeless” when they were evicted from their rentals with only hours of notice after Marriott-backed chain Sonder filed for bankruptcy, creating a vacation “nightmare” for hundreds.
Sonder Holdings Inc. announced an “immediate wind-down of operations” on Monday after filing for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, initiating a liquidation of its US businesses and beginning insolvency proceedings overseas.
Marriott terminated its licensing agreement with the San Francisco-based company on Sunday, after the apartment-style accommodations defaulted on its August 2024 agreement.
Steve McGraw, a retired tech executive, was in the middle of a 17-day stay in New York City with his wife, daughter and newborn granddaughter at the Sonder Battery Park Apartments Financial District when the company abruptly went out of business.
The family booked their trip through Marriott before receiving alerts on Monday they were being kicked out of the rental a week into their stay, according to Business Insider.
McGraw and his family had until 9 a.m. Tuesday to leave the building and doled out thousands of dollars in their desperate search to finish their trip.
“We ended up spending several thousand dollars more to find a new place,” McGraw said. “It was very, very disruptive. They treated us so poorly.”
Another guest recorded herself trudging across a snowy Montreal with her luggage following the company’s “breakup.”
“POV: Trying to maintain my composure while dragging my luggage down the street after Marriott Hotels & Sonder Hotels broke up with each other on a random Sunday and told us to gtfo of the hotel room we had booked for another three nights in Montreal,” Avery wrote in a TikTok post.
The TikToker found another hotel room in the Canadian city for $220 a night, she revealed.
Travel influencer, whose username is reece.traveling, claimed he became homeless because of the abrupt licensing termination by Marriott.
“Got kicked out of my hotel today… total nightmare,” he wrote on TikTok. “Marriott dropped Sonders, so now I’m basically homeless.”
Sonder was founded in 2014 and had 9,000 units worldwide with hub cities in Denver, San Francisco, Montreal and London and Amsterdam, according to the now-defunct company’s website.
Marriott confirmed it was working with the guests who booked through their site with booking needs and reservations.
“Marriott’s immediate priority is supporting guests currently staying at Sonder properties and those with upcoming reservations,” the hotel chain said in a statement. “Marriott remains committed to minimizing disruption to guests’ travel plans.”
News of Sunday’s termination and subsequent bankruptcy filing caught Sonder employees by surprise as they were left in the dark when confronted by frustrated guests, another TikTok user revealed after leaving their New York City rental apartment.
Sonder claims it faced severe financial constraints and “prolonged challenges” after agreeing to join the Marriott system in August 2024.
“We are devastated to reach a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward,” Sonder interim-CEO Janice Sears said. “Unfortunately, our integration with Marriott International was substantially delayed due to unexpected challenges in aligning our technology frameworks, resulting in significant, unanticipated integration costs, as well as a sharp decline in revenue arising from Sonder’s participation in Marriott’s Bonvoy reservation system.
“These issues persisted and contributed to a substantial and material loss in working capital. We explored all viable alternatives to avoid this outcome, but we are left with no choice other than to proceed with an immediate wind-down of our operations and liquidation of our assets,” she said.
The company, which offers refurbished properties for short-term rentals and was once a rival to Airbnb, went public in 2021 at a valuation of around $2.2 billion.
With Post wires
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