Minjun and Kevin Ngo were in the middle of a two-week stay at a Sonder rental in New York City when they were notified by Marriott they’d need to evacuate the property immediately.
TL;DR
- Marriott's abrupt split with Sonder left thousands of guests stranded mid-stay, with some facing immediate evacuation.
- Sonder defaulted on its partnership with Marriott due to financial instability and tech integration challenges.
- Guests expressed outrage over the handling of the situation, calling it inconceivable and a breakdown of hospitality.
- Marriott stated they would assist guests booked directly, but those through intermediaries must contact them.
The couple was in between apartment leases, so this Sonder rental was the only place they had to stay.
“Now that they’ve canceled the reservation, we have to go look for another hotel, and hotels are way more expensive right now,” Minjun said in a TikTok video posted Monday.
@minjunandkevin We got kicked out of our hotel reservation at Sonders in New York City that we booked through Marriott 😭 @@Marriott Bonvoy@@Sonder @Minjun and Kevin | Travel ##marriott##sonders##hotel##nyc ♬ original sound – Minjun and Kevin | Travel
They were among thousands of customers who had been hung out to dry due to Marriott’s abrupt split from short-term rental company Sonder, which acts somewhat like AirBnb, but properties are more apartment or hotel style. On Tuesday, Sonder customers were notified by Marriott that their partnership had ended, and they had less than 24 hours to vacate the properties in which they were staying.
“I think it’s just inconceivable that a corporate entity could treat human beings that way,” Bonnie Strahs, a Sonder guest in Philadelphia told local news station ABC6 on Monday.
Travel advisor Georgia Fowkes told Coins2Day there’s really no precedent in which guests were told to vacate.
“There’s been plenty of brand exits before, but I can’t recall a precedent where guests were literally told mid-stay to pack up their belongings and leave immediately,” she said. “Sorry, that’s not justifiable at all, it’s a complete breakdown of hospitality at its core.”
Sonder and Marriott have partnered.
In 2024, Sonder and Marriott initiated a collaboration aimed at integrating numerous Sonder apartment-style accommodations into Marriott's worldwide network. However, financial instability within Sonder jeopardized this arrangement, prompting Marriott's swift withdrawal from the partnership due to Sonder's failure to meet its obligations.
Tech integration challenges were also cited by both firms, leading to considerable setbacks in merging Sonder’s infrastructure with Marriott’s reservation and booking systems. These issues also incurred unexpected expenses for Sonder, contributing to a notable drop in earnings. Sonder’s Q2 2025 financial results, published in October, revealed a net loss of $101 million for the initial six months of the year—a dramatic 469% decline compared to the previous year—along with a stockholders’ deficit exceeding $715 million.
“We are devastated to reach a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward,” Janice Sears, interim CEO of Sonder, said in a statement published Monday.
Sonder didn’t respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment.
What Marriott is doing
In a statement released Monday, Marriott indicated that its “immediate priority” was assisting guests currently at Sonder locations and those with future bookings. The hotel group stated it would reach out to guests who made reservations directly with Marriott, but advised that individuals who booked via an intermediary would need to get in touch with those entities.
However, guests expressed frustrations with both Sonder and Marriott during the debacle.
Kevin Ngo stated in a video that he reached out to Marriott to confirm the authenticity of an evacuation message he got, given its sudden and odd nature. Similarly, another TikTok user, @allthingsluchi, said mentioned that she too found the notification about her canceled reservation to be “spam” due to its seemingly ridiculous content.
@allthingsluchi This isn’t a joke. Very disappointed in how this was handled. @Sonder @Marriott Bonvoy @Marriott Hotels #adulting #hotel #traveltiktok #roadtrip #allthingsluchi ♬ original sound – Luchi | Traveling Introvert
“Imagine my surprise—the Lord’s Day, Sunday—I get an email, which I registered as spam, because it made no sense,” she said. “Whatever’s happening in the divorce, leave the kids out of it.”
While speaking with Marriott, Kevin mentioned that the company advised him to simply reserve a different hotel through their website. However, he felt this was unreasonable, given that current hotel rates significantly exceed those from when he and his spouse initially made their reservation.
“This is really disappointing because we’ve stayed with Marriott a lot,” Minjun said. “This is probably the worst level of customer service I’ve ever received. How is this even a thing?”
Marriott did not provide a statement to Coins2Day regarding their plans to assist affected guests.
“As a travel professional—if any of my clients had been affected by this I would be livid—and the folks who have been kicked out of their hotel room without warning are indeed livid,” Robert S. Kraus, founder of Small Conferences, told Coins2Day. “Marriott has only themselves to blame.”
While Sonder clients mid-booking found themselves stranded, numerous others with future reservations are now urgently seeking different places to stay, particularly as the peak holiday travel period approaches.
“I need help,” TikTok user Jaycee Brammer said in a video posted Tuesday. Her reservation in New York City over Christmas time had been cancelled by Sonder. She had asked Marriott “at bare minimum” if they could book her at a different hotel at the same rate.
They denied her request, stating they were unable to assist and that their least expensive accommodation was priced at $150 more nightly than her original booking. Her attempts to reach Sonder yielded no response, though she sympathized with Sonder's staff who had been dismissed following the company's default.
Beyond the sudden cancellations impacting numerous customers, Sonder's workforce also faced layoffs following the end of their partnership.
“We learned about [the termination] the same day and we had to kick out all of the guests,” another TikTok user and Sonder employee said in a video this week.
“Although we knew something was going on, we just didn’t know it would happen like this,” former Sonder employee Eboni Rivera said in a TikTok video.
Travel advisor Fowkes also told Coins2Day that “surely, Sonder’s financial troubles weren’t a secret for the industry.”
“So when Marriott says the breakup came ‘unexpectedly,’ well, nobody will buy it,” she said. “The real question is why Marriott entered that partnership in the first place? If they were not ready to protect their own guests when—not if, but when—things go bad.”