Hotel guests are furious after being kicked out of a hotel chain without notice. The Marriott-backed chain Sonder filed for bankruptcy. It gave hotel guests only hours to find alternative vacation plans.
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Sonder Holdings Inc. announced an “immediate wind-down of operations” on Monday. The hotel chain filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Additionally, Marriott parted ways with Sonder on Sunday after the company defaulted on its agreement.
But the real losers were hotel guests. Speaking with Business Insider, Steve McGraw, a guest, was staying in New York City for 17 days. He learned he was being kicked out.
“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.”
Hotel Guests Not Happy
Meanwhile, another guest, named Avery, was quite literally left out in the cold in a snow-filled Montreal.
“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.
Hotel guests are not happy to say the least. Meanwhile, Marriott released a statement about the bankruptcy.
“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.”
Sonder explained the decision to liquidate its assets.
“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.