Sonder's sales channel was and is primarily airbnb itself which could easily turn it off if they determined them to be a threat. So it's a business highly dependent on future competitive partners (see Airbnb plus). Their company was called Flatbook but the service and reviews were so terrible and so full or irate customers who had been scammed that they had to try and erase it from the internet and reimagine themselves as Sonder. You can still find a few places with flatbook review if you search ex. <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sonder/@45.5198842,-73.5877813,17z/data=!4m7!3m6!1s0x4cc91a337df40af7:0xb7718325314fcfa6!8m2!3d45.5198805!4d-73.5855873!9m1!1b1" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sonder/@45.5198842,-73.587...</a> . Anyhow miles of bad service, scams, and very serious negative reviews. Since they used Airbnb as the primary sales channel on a grand scale they would just wipe property listings once the reviews were negative and replace with new fresh listings. I do believe they have professionalized their service recently however I am surprised they were trusted with a large investment and shows you the poor judgement of VC. Their product message was cloned rather than originated, they have a history of scam level of service, their revenue channel is largely dependent on competition, not to mention their business is neither innovative nor defensible, the product is not great for cities and community. Really SV at its worst.
"Compared to your typical Airbnb, no one “lives” in Sonder apartments except for its guests. Each rental comes with a living room space and kitchen so people can cook and relax like they would in their own home. Units range from studios in a heart of a city to sprawling a six-bedroom unit in downtown Montreal."<p>This is bad news for cities that are already short on housing. You're taking what could have been space for housing and erasing it with larger, lower-density hotel suites. Very luxurious and pleasant for the travelers, sure, but you're ballooning the space taken up by the "hotel" and magnifying the market pressures on everyone else in the process.<p>What's pretty surprising about this article is the breathless, unquestioned enthusiasm for these kind of ideas. Is this really a sustainable model for urban centers and hotels? Is this how we want to conduct our cities and use our most precious, economically productive spaces?<p>I'm pro Airbnb--when the room is actually rented out by the renter, everyone including the little guy wins. But this is a very "rich get richer" style of tourism with the fig-leaf of the share economy strapped to its extravagance, right?
I stayed at this location last January - <a href="https://www.sonder.com/destinations/chicago/Handsome-2BR-near-Restaurant-Row-by-Sonder/759?stay_type=nightly" rel="nofollow">https://www.sonder.com/destinations/chicago/Handsome-2BR-nea...</a><p>It photographed really well which is why I stayed there, but the bedding was terrible. The worst of any Airbnb experience and it’s part of why I generally choose hotels for short stays now.<p>This rental had cheap pillows, linens that felt like sand paper, and the comforter was bare sandwiched between a large sheet. Towels were tiny and cheap motel quality. I was really disappointed. Hopefully their other locations are better than this one. I personally wouldn’t go back.<p>I filled in their after-stay survey and never heard a response.
I'm struggling with the angle here.<p>A. The secret to AirBNB is that everybody had extra space, and Gig Economy allow you to get value out of your extra space.<p>B. When you are in the Gig Economy, you have two things that you need to do:<p>1. Have the extra space
2. Manage the extra space<p>Sonder initially focused on #2, and this worked out well. Bring professionalism to the management interface turns out to be very good deal because a lot of people with #1 is not good at #2.<p>My problem with the next step on their is that they are leaving the core of the gig economy.<p>Buying the facility and coming up with unique rooms with different paintings is simply getting into the hotel business. The fundamental driving force of the AirBNB business model is the use of an asset that is otherwise unused, and sparing somebody from needing to invest CapEx in building rooms. This is a massive lever to get into the hotel business, which is what AirBNB really is.<p>Obviously, I'm totally ignoring the moral choice of if having somebody else consuming and reselling beds is good or bad for cities. I'm simply on the point that hotels are a going business that is pretty competitive, with a series of operators at all levels. It's not clear to me how Sonder business model is superior to the standard hotel model once they are forced to spend CapEx for rooms, because having unique hotel facilities or rooms does not appear to me to drive a competitive advantage.<p>Secondly, if having unique rooms turns out to be brilliant competitive advantage, and I'm totally wrong on this point, I don't see how this drives a real moat (as Buffet would state) that is defensible. I would think that the entrenched hotel operators should be able to pivot and counter the threat.
Surprised Airbnb doesn’t just do this themselves, though I suspect it might just be a matter of time?<p>Agree the one thing I really don’t like about Airbnb and why I still prefer hotels is the inconsistency of the experience from check-in to check-out. If I’m in a new unfamiliar city all I want to do is minimize the unknowns as much as possible and everything about Airbnb from key hand off to cleanliness to whether the listing is even real is a big question mark until you’re actually there.
"Comfortable beds, nice linens, soft towels, and well-chosen amenities and essentials."<p>Clean linens alone has me interested. That is by far the biggest headache for me when comparing an AirBnB to a hotel. Can I trust that the host actually cleaned the bed sheets?
I heard about Sonder last year and have been surprised how under-the-radar they are. It's a great concept, and the pricing sure beats the cost of a high-end airbnb, which to me is their main competition.<p>We've had too many dodgy, misrepresented airbnb experiences and my wife has sworn them off. Looking forward to using Sonder when we're in the cities they serve!
Sonder is also a made-up word that means "the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own." Originally from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, which has a lot more beautiful neologism definitions like this you might enjoy.
I felt deep sonder thinking about the all the people who looked up this word along with me." [1] And in German Sonder means special and in Dutch Zonder (with a Z) means without.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sonder" rel="nofollow">https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sonder</a>
This might be a far shot, but any landlords here who have leased to Sonder? I read through their About Page and Lease page but still am not clear on exactly what they look for, or what the catch is.<p>Also, crazy how under the radar they have been, really curious to see how they built up traction over these years without any mainstream buzz
Off topic, but people who use Airbnb over hotels, what is the primary motivation to do so - besides cost?<p>One of the experiences of traveling for me is the hotel experience where I can just let go of all my worries and let the hotel handle everything from clean laundry to changing the sheets.
Why can't the US just start serviced apartments like they do in Australia and Asia?<p>Apartment type buildings w/ laundry + kitchens stuck in a hotel like building w/ front desk to check you in.<p>That's gotta be a way better use of city resources.
The logical stable point is that all city centers will be in effect hotels or homes of the very rich who can afford to bid against the expected return of those units.
Interesting... I suppose their game plan is to get bought by Airbnb for providing them with a convenient add-on service that could boost their revenue.
As you can imagine, Sonder is hiring like crazy as we are positioned to grow at blitz scale.<p>Check out our open positions here and feel free to DM me if you have any questions:<p><a href="https://jobs.lever.co/sonder?lever-via=KHoOVtOKv0" rel="nofollow">https://jobs.lever.co/sonder?lever-via=KHoOVtOKv0</a>
We've not built enough of all kinds of buildings for 20 or 30 years. We're seeing it hit housing affordability now, and Airbnb is a reaction on the commercial side. It's the fault of junk city councils and HOAs that oppose all development no matter what.