https://www.wsj.com/business/hospit...5?st=DL7rv7&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
By Katherine Hamilton and Craig Karmin | Photography and Video by Zack DeZon for WSJ
Nov. 23, 2025 9:00 pm ET
For Marriott International, the $15 million deal seemed like a low-risk way to add 9,000 rooms to its global portfolio.
So in August of last year, the world’s largest hotel chain struck a licensing agreement with an upstart short-term rental company called Sonder, whose twist on Airbnb-style booking was to provide guests with hotel amenities at apartment-like units across three continents.
Marriott customers, who earned loyalty points by booking Sonder units, liked the option enough that a few thousand were settled into Sonder rooms on Nov. 9 when a puzzling email arrived from Marriott: “We are kindly requesting that you check out of the property as soon as you are able.”
“Everything kind of went straight downhill from there,” recalled Cassia Francois, a senior hospitality manager at a Sonder property in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City.
By Katherine Hamilton and Craig Karmin | Photography and Video by Zack DeZon for WSJ
Nov. 23, 2025 9:00 pm ET
For Marriott International, the $15 million deal seemed like a low-risk way to add 9,000 rooms to its global portfolio.
So in August of last year, the world’s largest hotel chain struck a licensing agreement with an upstart short-term rental company called Sonder, whose twist on Airbnb-style booking was to provide guests with hotel amenities at apartment-like units across three continents.
Marriott customers, who earned loyalty points by booking Sonder units, liked the option enough that a few thousand were settled into Sonder rooms on Nov. 9 when a puzzling email arrived from Marriott: “We are kindly requesting that you check out of the property as soon as you are able.”
“Everything kind of went straight downhill from there,” recalled Cassia Francois, a senior hospitality manager at a Sonder property in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City.