Greater than 9,000 rooms were added to the portfolio of Marriott International, Incorporated by the end of 2024 as a licensing agreement for the long term with Sonder Holdings Incorporated was announced on Monday, August 19, 2024 to create Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy, which became brand number 35 — but Sonder is no longer brand number 35 of Marriott as the licensing agreement ended effective as of Sunday, November 9, 2025.
Sonder No Longer Brand Number 35 of Marriott as Licensing Agreement Abruptly Ended
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced that its licensing agreement with Sonder Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SOND, “Sonder”) is no longer in effect due to Sonder’s default. As a result, Sonder is no longer affiliated with Marriott Bonvoy, and Sonder properties are not available for new bookings on Marriott’s channels.
Marriott’s immediate priority is supporting guests currently staying at Sonder properties and those with upcoming reservations. Marriott will be contacting guests who booked directly through Marriott channels, including marriott.com, the Marriott Bonvoy App and Marriott’s worldwide reservation centers, to address their reservation and booking needs. Guests who booked through a third-party online travel agency should contact those organizations. Marriott remains committed to minimizing disruption to guests’ travel plans.
Guests with questions about current or future reservations at a Sonder property booked through Marriott channels can contact Marriott customer service here.
Sonder Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: SOND) (“Sonder” or the “Company”), which operates a global brand of premium, design-forward apartments and intimate boutique hotels serving the modern traveler, today announced that it will complete winding down operations immediately and expects to initiate a Chapter 7 liquidation of its U.S. business. The Company also intends to initiate insolvency proceedings in the international countries in which it operates.
Sonder has faced severe financial constraints arising from, among other things, prolonged challenges in the integration of the Company’s systems and booking arrangements with Marriott International. On Sunday, November 9, 2025, Marriott International announced that it terminated its licensing agreement with Sonder, deeming it no longer in effect. The Company made comprehensive efforts to evaluate all financing and other strategic alternatives, including a sale of its business and operations, to improve its financial condition. As part of those efforts, the Company engaged numerous strategic and financial parties but ultimately was unable to execute a viable going concern transaction for its business and operations or obtain additional liquidity. In light of these unsuccessful efforts and the Company’s financial condition, the Board of Directors made the difficult decision to wind-down operations and pursue a court-supervised liquidation of the U.S. business immediately.
“We are devastated to reach a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward,” said Janice Sears, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Sonder. “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.”
Ms. Sears continued, “The Board and I are deeply grateful to our employees for their longstanding dedication to putting the guest experience at the center of everything we do. Due to their passion and effort, Sonder spent the last decade redefining hospitality with remarkable and accessible guest stay experiences. On behalf of the entire Sonder team, we express our gratitude to our guests and partners for their business and support over the years.”
Additional information regarding the court proceedings and wind-down, including the status of the Company’s operations outside the U.S., will be made available by the Chapter 7 Trustee or the Company’s international subsidiaries in due course.
In other words, the word default in the former press release meant that Sonder has permanently ceased its operations in the latter press release.
Reports have indicated that guests with confirmed reservations at Sonder hotel properties would not be honored — and guests who were already staying at Sonder hotel properties were abruptly ordered to vacate the premises during their stays with an advance notice of 24 hours at best. Some of those guests were reportedly accommodated at another hotel property; given a refund; encouraged to initiate a chargeback on the credit cards which they used to pay for their reservations; received as many as 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points as a gesture of good will if they requested some sort of compensation for their inconvenience; or a combination of restitution thereof…
…or nothing at all.
Even worse is that the Sonder brand was a competitor to Airbnb with short-term rentals of “premium, design-forward apartments and intimate boutique hotels serving the modern traveler” — but the duration of even a short-term rental could be several weeks. Forcible eviction of guests who likely have no alternative plans potentially led to an unexpectedly bad short-term situation.
Meanwhile, landlords and employees have been chasing unpaid rent and wages from the shuttered lodging company.
Final Boarding Call
The “long term” licensing agreement of 20 years ultimately lasted almost 15 months…
…but interesting, this has been a rare occurrence of a multinational lodging company announcing that a brand has been removed from its portfolio instead of added to it.
Perhaps in its zeal of adding brands, proper due diligence was not performed by Marriott International, Incorporated. As the result of what is an embarrassing situation — including the way Marriott International, Incorporated has chosen to handle or mishandle it, depending on your persepctive — new brands may not be hastily added so easily to the portfolio of Marriott Bonvoy…
…and even worse, the trust that Marriott International, Incorporated built over the decades with its customers may have been damaged as a result — as what guarantees do guests have that what happened with Sonder will not occur with another brand?
Whether or not they are justified in doing so, I would surmise that affected guests might initiate legal action against Marriott International, Incorporated as a result of what happened…
Photograph ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
