SonderReviews of sonder.com

Sonder is your typical bs startup that loves your money but hates you. I stayed at their San Antonio place and the elevator they directed me to has reportedly been broken for MONTHS and they don't notify you. A big problem if you are disabled and staying in the third floor. No front desk, you can't leave your bags anywhere and they won't offer even an hour late checkout. They charge you $25 to even ASK for a late checkout, even if it's for 30 minutes. The check-in materials are no longer accessible after your checkout time, so I was unable to place the key in the locked code mail slot bc the code was no longer anywhere to be found, and they threatened to charge me for the key even after I told them I put them elsewhere bc of this issue. Plus they have hidden fees, like cleaning fees. Do yourself a favor and stay at a reputable hotel.

We stayed in a 3BR apartment in Rome and things were bad from the start when we were told we would have to check in at 4:30p (30 minutes late) because “the previous guests left [the apartment] quite dirtier than expected.” We arrived and the apartment smelled like raw sewage and a cloud of air freshener, to the point where we needed to open the windows and leave immediately because we were getting headaches. The next three days were a mess. Sonder kept offering to send a cleaning crew and give us air fresheners until we sent photos of a clogged sink – what appeared to be the source of the smell. They sent plumbers and told us they’d “cleared the pipes again,” indicating a repeat issue, but the smell only got worse. We called and texted repeatedly to try to find a solution but Customer Service only stalled - not returning our calls, not responding to texts, and only saying they were sorry when they did respond. Meanwhile a third of the apartment’s bathrooms and bedrooms and most of the common area was unusable, and we grew worried about prolonged exposure to the odor, which was clearly a sewer back up of some kind. We did not open the bathroom door for 72hrs and the apartment still smelled horrible the moment you walked in the door. Clearly an odor is tough to document - you can’t take a video or photos of an overpowering stench, and Sonder knows that as they didn’t ultimately reply to us until three days after we had checked out, and later said “the plumbers didn’t smell anything.” We warned them that the apartment could not be rented out to other guests – hopefully they took our advice, but they texted us three days after we checked out asking if they could enter the apartment to fix an AC issue, so who knows. Sonder refused to compensate us for the fact that 1/3-1/2 the apartment was uninhabitable (and potentially a health hazard). If this were a hotel we would’ve been placed in a different room immediately. If this were an Airbnb, the host would have worked with us and Airbnb’s CX team would have been looped in to find a solution. Because of Sonder’s rental and review models, there’s very little consequence for a negative experience unless you are a paid influencer partner with them. We will never be using Sonder again; hopefully this review will deter others.

I booked a stay in July for a New Orleans visit on October 7th to the 9th. Less than a week before the stay, they sent a “confirmation” showing a different property. When I called, the customer service person said I was free to cancel. A few days later they sent me a confirmation for a THIRD location n a different, sketchy neighborhood. There was no notice or explanation or guarantee it wouldn’t happen again. When I called again, the customer service person said the second location was ‘fully booked,’ which made no sense because THEY had selected that location two days before. Once again they said I was free to cancel, so I cancelled. Forced to get two hotel rooms at the last minute for hundreds of dollars more than my already expensive Sonder booking.

Hopeless Very expenesive London accommodation, sold on Booking.com as a Hotel NOT A HOTEL! Arrived from overseas at night, got no pre-registration communication, app didn't work and there was no back-up access for the room, if the app doesn't work then you can't access your room. The app just wouldnt produce an access code for me. Locked out middle of the night jet-lagged having paid hundreds of pounds for a room I couldn't get in to, and no help - the young guy at the desk has no accommodation training and said there was no one to call and no way they could give me access to the room if the app didn't work. No key, no back-up. Terrible model. Not even a phone in the building to call for help.

Sonder canceled our reservation 4 hours before our flight to destination - no offer to help rebook, just a voicemail and text about the cancelation. AC was broken in unit - understand the issue - don’t understand that no help was offered to help find alternative accommodations for a family traveling. Had to call to try and get help and after they found a unit in a different area of town - away from where we wanted to be - we had to find a last minute Airbnb.

How often have we all gone through a purchase process expecting to be treated just like we would treat others…stupid me. Should have read the reviews here. An awful company, apparently an A to Z awful company. Booked a place in New Orleans on Bookings only to find I was dealing with Sonder after I paid. Took two hours, multiple representatives, and a dozen texts to establish an account and submit a copy of a government ID and a photo of me. At no time did I get anything but platitudes and the constant request to “try again.” Nine times through the “verification process it finally worked and we received the “secret email” so we could access what we had already paid for. By that time I was ready to say “keep the damn money,” I am going to a hotel. Apparently refunds of any kind are never an option, even if your getting shafted. We will be leaving tomorrow if anyone needs a free night’s stay in NOLA.

Sonder does not issue a refund or future credit if you need to cancel your booking, even a day later and months in advance. They keep 100% including taxes and fees. If you book a longterm stay, the same, even thousands of dollars. Book with a reputable hotelier and not this. Now you know the small print that will hide from you until after they get your money.

Location in Nashville was great, though upon arrival there was no couch, which had clearly been depicted in the unit. No on-site parking not a problem as you could have 30 minutes to load and unload...oh wait...no you could not. Construction employees parked all over the lot all day blocking any other movement. Had to haul suitcases from paid lot away from location. Chromecast TV worked ok....once there was internet. Spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to figure out why the wifi would connect, but show "no internet". Call center operator asked me to check the modem "behind the couch", apparently she did not get the memo either! Ultimately had to leave to coffee shop with internet access to do work, highly inconvenient, then well into the night I got a text to try the internet again (hard to do when I was not there). Ultimately it was the next day, about 26 hours after check in, when I got another update the internet had been fixed. Lastly, I appreciate working elevators as much as anyone, and one of the two was broken. Unfortunately it was on the other side of the wall and pounding and clanging early one morning woke us up, the next day it drove us away to a different cafe. Ultimately felt like a bait and switch with a lot of other circumstances that were poorly timed to make our stay absolutely not worth it. Based on my experience, I would avoid Sonder at every turn.