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Sonder Profile: Pandemic Layoffs, Business Model, and Current Status

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The profile

Sonder, a San Francisco company that leased apartments and small hotels and rented them out by the night, laid off or furloughed 400 employees, a third of its staff, in March 2020. It lost $250.3 million that year and $294.4 million the next, went public through a SPAC in January 2022, and stopped operating in November 2025, the day after Marriott ended a 20-year licensing deal "due to Sonder's default."

  • Category: travel and hospitality
  • Pandemic-layoff role: Deepest-cut ranking company
  • Last updated: 2026-09-25

Founders, executives and investors

Francis Davidson started managing short-term rentals of vacant student apartments while at university in Montreal, according to Sonder's annual report for 2021, and built the company with co-founder Martin Picard. Davidson was chief executive when Sonder went public. By November 2025 its chief executive was Janice Sears, on an interim basis.

Before the pandemic Sonder had raised $360 million and was valued at more than $1 billion, Layoffs.fyi reported. It listed on Nasdaq under the ticker SOND on January 18, 2022, by merging with Gores Metropoulos II, a special purpose acquisition company that had gone public a year earlier.

Business before the pandemic

Sonder leased whole buildings or full floors of apartment developments, furnished the units and rented them by the night through its own app and website and through Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com. Guests checked in through the app. Its typical lease ran five to seven years with up to two five-year renewals at Sonder's option. The leases, the 2021 annual report said, commonly included upfront rent abatement for new units and "partial rent relief in the event of a recession." In March 2020 it had about 5,000 apartments.

What the pandemic changed

By March 27, 2020 bookings at those apartments were down 20 percent, Layoffs.fyi reported. Besides the layoffs, the annual report says, other staff were furloughed, had their pay cut or moved to shorter weeks. Sonder renegotiated "a significant portion" of its leases, cut overhead and looked for other guests. It said it outperformed traditional hotels on occupancy and revenue per available room from March 2020 through 2021.

The losses kept coming. At the end of 2021 Sonder had an accumulated deficit of $814.8 million, about 1,600 employees and more than 7,600 units open for booking in 38 cities in 10 countries, with about 10,500 more under contract.

After the first shock

In March 2024 Sonder delayed its 2023 results after finding "accounting errors" in its 2022 and 2023 statements; its stock fell, and investors filed a class action claiming the company had made false or misleading statements. In 2024 it signed a 20-year licensing agreement with Marriott International to create "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy," adding more than 9,000 rooms to Marriott's system. On October 14, 2025 Sonder told the SEC there was "substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern," and an October 24 filing showed it faced delisting from Nasdaq.

Since 2025

Marriott terminated the agreement on Sunday, November 9, 2025, citing "Sonder's default." The next day Sonder said it would begin a Chapter 7 liquidation of its U.S. business and insolvency proceedings abroad, and ceased operations, leaving guests stranded, Hotel Dive reported. Sears blamed the Marriott integration, which she said was "substantially delayed due to unexpected challenges in aligning our technology frameworks," producing unexpected costs and "a sharp decline in revenue" from Marriott's Bonvoy reservation system. A Marriott spokesperson said Marriott "does not agree with the characterizations" in Sonder's release. As of September 30, 2025, Marriott had 7,700 Sonder rooms in 140 properties.

Sources

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