Collapse of Sonder, a Marriott-backed hotel chain, leaves guests stranded mid-stay

Patrick M. D’Aoust probably didn’t expect his anniversary trip to end early, but he definitely didn’t think he’d have just 15 minutes to vacate his room.

The early ejection wasn’t because of a fire or a fight, but a bankruptcy. Sonder, a short-term rentals company abruptly collapsed over the weekend when its partnership with Marriott ended, leaving many guests stranded mid-stay.

D’Aoust was staying the weekend at a Sonder property in Montréal, Canada, when he got an email last Sunday afternoon that he needed to vacate his room by Monday at 9 am. That’s because Sonder’s licensing agreement with Marriott was “no longer in effect.”

“I asked the staff if we could still stay until our checkout at 11 am, but the staff explained he had only received instructions to empty the building ASAP and that unfortunately we only had 10 to 15 minutes,” he told CNN.

D’Aoust is just one of the many travelers affected by Sonder’s shutdown following the sudden end of a deal with Marriott, which had let guests book and earn loyalty points at Sonder’s 9,000 furnished apartments and boutique hotel rooms in 40 cities across 10 countries.

Marriott said in a statement Sunday that the planned 20-year licensing agreement had ended because of Sonder’s “default,” a.k.a. financial difficulties.