NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — It’s the end of the road for one of the biggest names in short-term rentals.<\/p>\n
Sonder has filed for bankruptcy and announced it’s shutting down operations immediately, leaving some travelers stranded without the rooms they booked months ago.<\/p>\n
Rooms were canceled, but the refunds haven’t come back yet, according to one customer.<\/p>\n
“Supposed to. I haven’t seen it yet, but they will,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Janet Taylor headed uptown with luggage in tow to her hotel room, not the studio apartment she booked online.<\/p>\n
“In September, booked with Sonders at Center East, which is a Marriott property. I’d never done that before and got a note on an email, actually on Sunday saying that Sonders no longer had a licensing agreement with Marriott and my reservation was canceled,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
She received an email mirroring a release by Marriott International on Sunday that its, “licensing agreement is no longer in effect due to Sonder’s default.”<\/p>\n
The chain is “no longer affiliated with Marriott Bonvoy,” it said. And Marriott’s “immediate priority is supporting guests” who have current and upcoming reservations.<\/p>\n
“I immediately got on the phone and all the hotels I would have booked were like the prices were crazy,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Sonder bills itself a global brand of premium apartments and boutique hotels in 40 countries around the world.<\/p>\n
It launched in 2014 and partnered with Marriott last October, allowing Bonvoy members to book on the Marriott site, accumulate, and redeem points.<\/p>\n
There are nine properties in Manhattan, three are in Queens, one is in Brooklyn and a corporate office is on Fifth Avenue.<\/p>\n
Some guests were even in the middle of their stay and told to get out.<\/p>\n
Sonders Holdings issued a statement saying it “has faced severe financial constraints and prolonged challenges in the integration of the Company’s systems and booking arrangements with Marriott International.”<\/p>\n
It also said ultimately the “Board of Directors made the difficult decision to wind down operations and pursue a court-supervised liquidation of the U.S. business immediately.”<\/p>\n
“It’s really about perspective. And at the end of the day, I found some place,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
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