Final Monday, a TPG reader arrived in Toronto, anticipating to spend the following 4 days at a cute boutique lodge, The Slate, within the Leisure District. However when she arrived on the property, which was operated by Sonder, she was shocked to be greeted by locked doorways — and an eviction discover.
The discover introduced that Sonder had repeatedly didn’t pay the lease on the constructing.
Consequently, the leasing firm obtained a court-ordered eviction (a Landlord’s Warrant), and on Nov. 9, 2026, a course of server delivered the discover to the lodge.
“Your lease has been terminated efficient instantly,” the eviction order suggested.
Everybody on the Sonder property, together with workers and visitors, was legally compelled to vacate instantly.
By the point this reader arrived the following day, the lodge was already shuttered — having been repossessed by the constructing’s proprietor. That left her on the road in a overseas metropolis with enterprise conferences to attend and no place to remain.
Associated: Sonder to file chapter
A lodge eviction scene on repeat
Sadly for 1000’s of Sonder clients, comparable scenes repeated many times this week.
All all over the world, Sonder visitors had been unceremoniously advised to seize their issues and go. Misinformation about what precipitated the abrupt closure and who was liable for the mass lodge evictions unfold.
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TPG has been fielding many complaints from displaced Sonder visitors, lots of whom are indignant Marriott Bonvoy members questioning why they weren’t given extra advance discover of the upcoming chapter.
However how a lot advance discover did Marriott have that Sonder, an impartial firm, was going belly-up? And what can the displaced vacationers do to safe their refunds and discover different lodging now?
That is what TPG aimed to seek out out.
Here is what we discovered and what it’s good to know if you’re caught up on this chapter mess.
Licensing agreements and shock bankruptcies
Emotional headlines within the media this week have falsely claimed that Marriott was behind the sudden evictions. Many stories incorrectly assumed that as a result of Marriott terminated its licensing settlement with Sonder, that the separation precipitated the chapter.
However the actuality is that the chapter precipitated the separation.
Sonder was an organization working on fumes for a while, leaving a path of unpaid payments in its wake.
In a cellphone interview with a Marriott spokesperson this week, TPG discovered that on Sunday, Nov. 9, Sonder knowledgeable Marriott that it was “submitting for chapter and shutting down.” For apparent causes, the licensing settlement between the 2 firms terminated that day.
“Marriott terminated its license settlement with Sonder as a result of Sonder knowledgeable us they had been headed imminently for Chapter 7 chapter, with no plans to proceed working,” the Marriott spokesperson shared with TPG. “Consequently, Marriott felt it had no alternative however to terminate the settlement, which might facilitate communication with Sonder’s visitors, whose security, safety and welfare could be impacted by Sonder’s sudden liquidation.”
Marriott instantly started contacting its clients who had been at the moment in residence at Sonder properties. The message knowledgeable the visitors that Marriott’s affiliation with Sonder was over and that the separation made persevering with their keep not possible.
This message gave many Marriott Bonvoy members the wrong impression that Marriott had made a unilateral and sudden choice to terminate the settlement, one thing that would have been deliberate prematurely to keep away from impacting clients.
However the fact was that Sonder was being kicked out of the buildings it didn’t personal. The “imminent” chapter submitting and subsequent shuttering of the enterprise occurred simply sooner or later after Sonder knowledgeable Marriott that the corporate was ceasing operations.
On Monday, all the staff had been fired and the leased buildings deserted — and the Sonder visitors (lots of whom are TPG readers) had been left scrambling to seek out substitute lodging.
What to do if you’re at the moment displaced due to Sonder’s shutdown
It’s kind of unclear if any Sonder properties are nonetheless open. However should you occur to nonetheless be in a single, it is positively time to pack your baggage and go away.
Our Marriott government contact advised us that the Marriott Bonvoy group is working across the clock to help impacted vacationers to find different lodging. Sadly, although, stranded visitors are reporting lengthy wait occasions to talk to Marriott customer support (1-888-236-2427) and help that does not essentially or constantly embody discounted substitute accommodations to match the unique Sonder reservation charges.
One TPG reader — who has been, till now, a lifetime Platinum Elite member — emailed us and shared that she was in the course of a keep at a Sonder property in Madrid when she acquired a discover informing her that she needed to go away instantly. She had booked her keep via the Marriott reserving portal. One electronic mail she acquired from Marriott acknowledged that the corporate would provide “speedy help to assist safe different lodging at one other Marriott property at your unique booked charge, topic to availability.” However when she acquired on the cellphone with Marriott, the consultant advised her that electronic mail was incorrect, and she or he may not be rebooked at one other Marriott property at her unique reserving charge — as an alternative, she was rebooked with a better charge at a lodge an hour away.
So if you’re a kind of displaced vacationers, chances are you’ll wish to look outdoors the Marriott ecosystem for a direct re-accommodation within the worth vary of your unique reservation.
Touchdown, an organization that gives short-term furnished residences round the USA, for instance, is at the moment providing displaced Sonder clients a $500 low cost.
Preserve all of your receipts, although, as a result of these are early days on this state of affairs. You may wish to have an intensive document of simply how a lot this fiasco value you, ought to there be monetary compensation out there sooner or later.
What to do you probably have an upcoming pay as you go Sonder reservation
Vacationers who’ve pay as you go upcoming reservations at a Sonder property ought to instantly make different plans. Your keep is canceled.
As a result of Sonder filed for chapter, it’s unlikely that clients will routinely obtain a refund for his or her canceled keep. When an organization recordsdata for chapter safety, it’s, at the least quickly, relieved of economic obligations, like offering refunds to clients.
And that is the place it turns into a bit murky for Bonvoy members who booked their Sonder reservations via the Marriott app or web site.
Sonder is the service provider of document on these reservations and that’s the firm that owes the refunds. Since Sonder is bankrupt and will not be voluntarily processing these refunds, visitors should file a bank card dispute now.
The Honest Credit score Billing Act (FCBA) gives the safety to make sure that all Sonder clients who pay as you go for a reservation utilizing a bank card will obtain their a reimbursement. These refunds cannot be processed by Marriott as a result of the pay as you go money is with Sonder (who’s bankrupt) and might be included within the total debt of the corporate within the chapter proceedings.
The FCBA permits customers to cost again charges to a service provider that doesn’t (or can not) present the products or companies as agreed. So you probably have a pay as you go Sonder reservation, don’t hesitate to file a bank card dispute. That’s how you’ll get your a reimbursement.
What about further losses incurred on account of Sonder shutting down?
Many readers with upcoming journeys that embody a now-canceled Sonder reservation are asking concerning the further losses they’re going to incur in the event that they abort their plans utterly.
The reply to that query depends upon whether or not the buyer has bought journey insurance coverage, and if that’s the case, what sort of coverage it’s. Almost all journey insurance coverage insurance policies present “named perils” protection. Which means solely sure occasions particularly outlined within the doc are coated.
What you will wish to search for in your coverage is protection for the insolvency, with or with out chapter, of your journey supplier. When you have that safety, you can file a declare for any nonrefundable elements of your journey must you resolve to cancel.
However consider, double-dipping is not authorized — so you wouldn’t embody the price of the canceled Sonder reservation, which you’ll get again via a bank card dispute. Issues like pay as you go, nonrefundable airfare, prepare, automotive rental or tour tickets needs to be coated you probably have that insolvency safety in your coverage.
Sadly, although, many journey insurance coverage insurance policies truly title the default of a journey supplier as an exclusion for protection. In that case, journey insurance coverage wouldn’t present safety on this state of affairs.
Journey insurance coverage might be complicated and complex, main insured customers to make expensive errors. However each main journey insurance coverage firm gives its clients a 24-hour hotline. Earlier than you make any choice about your upcoming journey, dial that quantity and ask what your coverage covers.
Associated: One of the best journey insurance coverage insurance policies and suppliers
What about bank card journey safety?
Much like complete journey insurance coverage insurance policies, the journey safety included along with your premium bank cards cowl solely named perils.
The journey safety supplied by bank card firms, sadly, excludes chapter of a journey supplier as a named peril.
I spoke to our Chase government contact this week who defined the next: “Chase’s journey insurance coverage does cowl the place lodging has change into uninhabitable (see beneath the bullet from our T&C’s). Nonetheless, it will not cowl lodging changing into unavailable as a result of insolvency of a journey supplier.”
- Coated Traveler’s or their Touring Companion’s Supplier of Lodging listed on the itinerary and/or Host at Vacation spot location being made uninhabitable.” (Chase spokesperson)
Based mostly on this rationalization, Sonder’s sudden closure wouldn’t be a coated occasion, sadly.
Nonetheless, those self same bank cards ought to facilitate the return of the pay as you go funds paid to Sonder for visitors’ unique reserving via the chargeback course of.
Am I assured new lodging due to Marriott elite standing?
Though many Marriott Bonvoy members have been asking whether or not there are particular ensures for members with elite standing, sadly there isn’t any normal reply, in response to the Marriott spokesperson TPG spoke with. Every member’s state of affairs is being reviewed and dealt with individually.
Based mostly on the various reader emails we have acquired — lots of whom have elite standing with Marriott — standing won’t essentially allow you to get rebooked, nor does it assure any discounted charges or factors choices. From the shared paper trails that TPG is receiving we all know that, some displaced Marriott clients are being supplied with a small quantity Marriott Bonvoy factors as a goodwill gesture. Others are being provided substitute lodging. Some have acquired as much as 40,000 Bonvoy factors, which in response to TPG’s newest valuation is equal to about $280.
With out a lot consistency, although, it is comprehensible that many Marriott loyalists really feel pissed off about how the state of affairs has been dealt with.
Backside line
When you’ve been impacted by the Sonder chapter:
- Assessment the “Sonder FAQs” on the Marriott Bonvoy web site
- File a bank card dispute to get your refund as quickly as potential
- Preserve further expense receipts for potential future compensation
- Verify your journey insurance coverage coverage for added protections
Lastly, though Marriott isn’t taking up the money owed of the bankrupt Sonder, that does not imply Marriott members needs to be afraid to ask for a goodwill gesture from the corporate.
And this is yet one more tip: As a shopper advocate who has efficiently mediated 1000’s of issues through the years, I do know that firms are way more prepared to supply factors or miles than money compensation. That is very true when the corporate isn’t legally liable for the state of affairs. So preserve that in thoughts whenever you make your request. Some Marriott Bonvoy clients have already accomplished simply that and acquired requested factors.
If you end up in a battle with a lodge, cruise line, bank card firm, automotive rental company or trip rental firm ship your request for assist to ombudsman@thepointsguy.com and I will be comfortable to analyze and allow you to if I can.
