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.
The couple was in between apartment leases, so this Sonder rental was the only place they had to stay.
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.
Travel advisor Georgia Fowkes told Fortune 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 had launched a partnership in 2024, planning to add thousands of Sonder’s apartment-style units to Marriott’s global portfolio. But financial turbulence at Sonder undermined the agreement, leading to Marriot’s abrupt abandonment of the partnership because of Sonder’s default.
Sonder didn’t respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Marriott said in a statement published Monday its “immediate priority” was helping guests staying at Sonder properties and those with upcoming reservations. The company said it would contact guests who booked directly though Marriott, but said guests who booked through a third party would have to contact those organizations.
However, guests expressed frustrations with both Sonder and Marriott during the debacle.
“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.”
When Kevin was on the phone with Marriott, he said Marriott suggested he just book a new property on the site. But he said this seemed unfair, considering hotel prices are much higher now than they were when he and his wife had originally booked.
“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 didn’t respond to Fortune’s request for comment on how the company intends to help impacted customers.
“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 Fortune. “Marriott has only themselves to blame.”
And while Sonder customers who were already in the middle of bookings were left stranded, there are also many customers with upcoming bookings who are scrambling to find alternative accommodations—especially with the busy holiday travel season looming.
They told her no, that they couldn’t do anything, and that their cheapest hotel was $150 more expensive per night than her previous reservation. She got crickets when she tried contacting Sonder, although she was empathetic toward Sonder’s employees who had been sacked due to the default.
As if the abrupt cancellations for thousands of customers wasn’t bad enough, Sonder’s employees were also let go due to the partnership termination.
Travel advisor Fowkes also told Fortune 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.”
