--- title: "Guests Kicked to the Curb In the Middle of Their Stay After Airbnb Rival Goes Bankrupt Right Before Thanksgiving" description: "Sonder, a company once seen as a potential rival to Airbnb, suddenly went bankrupt last week, stranding its guests across the world." date: "2025-11-17" modified: "2025-11-17" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/guests-kicked-sonder-thanksgiving" categories: - "Future Society" --- # Guests Kicked to the Curb In the Middle of Their Stay After Airbnb Rival Goes Bankrupt Right Before Thanksgiving ![Sonder, a company once seen as a potential rival to Airbnb, suddenly went bankrupt last week, stranding its guests across the world.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* Picture this: you're on holiday somewhere, enjoying your stay at a short-term rental that you thought you got a good deal on — a hotel for people who don't need all the accommodations of a hotel. Then, without warning, you're evicted from the room you paid for before you can finish your early afternoon martini. The startup you were renting from, it turn**s** out, has gone belly-up, leaving you on the street. That, in a nutshell, is what happened last week to guests who were staying at properties across the world held by the firm Sonder, which [suddenly went bankrupt]() after its partner, Marriott, decided to end their partnership. The decision precipitated an epic and unceremonious collapse for a multibillion dollar startup that was once being hailed as a potential rival to Airbnb. And it couldn't have happened in more embarrassing fashion: stranding, or at least majorly inconveniencing, travelers just ahead of Thanksgiving. It was not, in fact, "a stay you can count on," as Sonder's website [promised](). Disgruntled vacationers complained about their ruined travel plans online. On the r/Marriott subreddit, one guest [said]() they couldn't get back into their room to gather their belongings so they could checkout. Another [claimed]() they were told they were being kicked out of their room while in the middle of a winter storm in Chicago, with the heat being turned off during the remainder of their stay. Speaking [to the *New York Times*](), a 47-year-old guest and his husband said they were informed that Sonder was no longer honoring their reservation moments after they checked in, effectively forcing them not to leave the property in case they got locked out. "I was basically trapped and like a prisoner in my room, because I was afraid if we left, we would never get back in," the guest told the *NYT*. Sonder offered short-term rentals for properties it owned, instead of offering rentals controlled by a third-party, like on Airbnb's marketplace. It was a formula that fueled its quick rise to a [valuation of $1.9 billion in 2022](), but couldn't rake in profits. To reinvigorate its struggling business, Sonder entered a licensing and leasing agreement with Marriott in 2024, allowing its thousands of rentals across 40 cities in ten countries to be listed on Marriott's websites, which could also be rented through Marriott's rewards program. It was no longer just "Sonder," but became "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy." The agreement was supposed to last up to 20 years. But on November 9, Marriott terminated the deal, claiming Sonder had defaulted on it. Sonder immediately announced it was liquidating its assets, and on Friday, [officially filed for bankruptcy](). Sonder claims that much of the blame lies with Marriott being a poor business partner. "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," the company said in a [statement](). In the aftermath, Marriott has [told the press]() that its "immediate priority" was supporting guests by helping them get new reservations, but customers have complained of egregiously overpriced bookings, or of support lines that don't even work. **More on flailing finances:** [*The Stock of Trump’s Tech Company Is Crashing So Hard It Isn’t Even Funny*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()