11/14/2025
Being in the travel industry now, I’m surprised by the default of Sonder. With its affiliation with Marriott, they joined the roles of the largest hotel chain in the world. But alas, not all was well in hotel paradise. Reports were that Marriott was unaware of the depths of Sonder red balance sheet. The official reason cited for the default was the difficulties in integrating tech between the Sonder and Marriott platform. The move to Marriott’s booking platform created difficulties, and in some cases delays, that saw Sonder’s bookings drop significantly over the past 6 months. Sonder’s own 2025 second quarter financial report showed a loss of over 400% in profits from the same quarter in 2024.
What is truly amazing is the swiftness by which Marriott void the agreement with the boutique lux-adjacent apartment-style brand. Once the bankruptcy was announced, Marriott immediately cut ties with the label and this left some travelers without a place to stay. I personally know a family that was evicted from their travel residence, the Flatiron Hotel, in New York City. They received an email on Sunday evening saying that they need to vacate the premises by 8am on Monday. This type of move from a hospitality brand is unprecedented.
To the credit of Marriott, our friends were rebooked into another Bonvoy property and given $300 hotel credit for the remainder of their stay. This is one time it paid to be a BONVOY Titanium member.
As your travel professional, I will work for my clients to ensure they are treated the same fashion as this Bonvoy status member. That is the value of working with a FORA travel advisor, with our company’s unique partnership with elite travel brands we have ability to ensure our customers are car for when something like this goes awry.
