Sonder Corp.
Industry | Hospitality |
---|---|
Founded | 2014 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Founder | Francis Davidson Lucas Pellan Martin Picard |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, USA |
Area served | North America, Europe, Dubai |
Key people | Francis Davidson (CEO) Sanjay Banker (CFO and President) Satyen Pandya (CTO) |
Website | sonder |
Sonder Corp. is a boutique apartment-hotel hospitality company that manages short-term rentals in North America, Europe, and Dubai.[1][2] It was founded in Montreal, Canada, and since 2016 has been based in San Francisco, California, in the United States.[3][4]
History[]
In 2012, while he was a student at McGill University, Francis Davidson started renting out his own apartment and managing apartments of out-of-town students in the summers as a way to earn extra money.[5] In 2014, Davidson and Lucas Pellan founded Flatbook (later renamed Sonder), and brought the company to Montreal tech accelerator FounderFuel.[5] By June 2020, the company had raised a total of over $550 million, valuing Sonder at $1.3 billion.[5][6]
In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonder laid off 400 employees, one-third of its staff.[7] Later in 2020, the company rehired some of those who had been laid off.[5] In 2021, the company announced a planned expansion in Quebec, with plans to add 700 employees there over the next five years.[8]
In 2021, Sanjay Banker was named president of Sonder, in addition to his role of CFO, and Satyen Pandya was named CTO.[8] In April 2021, the company announced plans to go public at a $2.2 billion valuation, through a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company Gores Metropoulos II Inc.[9]
Services[]
Sonder manages 5,000 apartments in 35 cities around the world as of February 2021.[5][7] As of 2019, Sonder was the largest professional host on the lodging website Airbnb.[10] Although it has been described as a competitor to Airbnb,[11] Sonder leases and manages its own rentals, unlike Airbnb, which is a marketplace.[12] Its competitors in the short-term rental market include Kasa and The Guild.[13][14][15] The company's offerings combine hotel-like rooms with conveniences found in rental apartments.[16][17] During their stay, guests use an app to check in and get customer support, among other services. The company outsources maintenance and housekeeping services.[18][19]
As of January 2020, Sonder had apartment development projects planned in Dallas, Denver, Miami, New York City and Philadelphia.[20][21][22][23][24] It was reported that Sonder would reopen the Flatiron Hotel in Manhattan in April 2021, after signing the lease in 2019.[25]
As of April 2021, Sonder has 4,500+ listings in 30+ cities in 8 countries with over 1 million guests.[26][27]
Controversy[]
The city of Boston fined Sonder $11,700 in December 2019 under a new law banning absentee landlords from short-term rentals. Sonder, which accounted for 39 of the 288 fines in the city, said it would appeal.[28]
In 2019, the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association filed a complaint against property-developer Sherman Associates, which had intended to implement 94 Sonder units in downtown Minneapolis. The project was ultimately reduced to 25 short-term rental units.[29]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Morris, Keiko. "This Dallas Apartment Building's Sole Tenant Is a New Lodging Company". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Sonder Corp". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
- ^ Carson, Biz. "Sonder Becomes Travel's Newest Billion-Dollar Brand After Raising $225 Million For Its Airbnb-Style Hospitality Business". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ "Montreal-founded Sonder raises $225-million in financing, plans to open second headquarters in Canada". Retrieved 2020-04-30.
- ^ a b c d e "This 28-year-old turned his college side hustle into a $1.3 billion start-up backed by Jeff Bezos". cnbc.com. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- ^ "Airbnb Competitor Sonder Now Valued at $1 Billion". The Real Deal New York. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
- ^ a b "Hospitality startup Sonder slashes workforce". The Real Deal New York. 2020-03-24.
- ^ a b "VC-backed Sonder beefs up executive suite". therealdeal.com. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "Sonder to Go Public at $2.2 Billion Valuation as Short-Term Rental Sector Stays Hot". skift.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ^ Sharf, Samantha. "Airbnb Arbitrage: How Professional Hosts Are Filling The Unicorn's Call For Quality Rentals". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ Roof, Katie. "Sonder Poised to Become Airbnb's Billion-Dollar Competitor". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
- ^ "I spent a night in a swanky hotel-apartment hybrid rented out by Sonder, the $1 billion startup disrupting the hospitality industry. Here are 6 ways it was different from a typical Airbnb stay". businessinsider.com. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "Disruptors in the Short-Term Rental Space". National Apartment Association. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- ^ Putzier, Konrad. "In the Airbnb Era, Apartment Landlords Are the New Hoteliers". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
- ^ Loizos, Connie (January 6, 2020). "The Guild, which turns apartments into short-term rentals, has nabbed $25 million in Series B funding". TechCrunch.
- ^ "The 10 Best Alternatives to Airbnb". curbed.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ^ "Part apartment, part hotel, Sonder moves into Seattle with its tech-enabled hospitality option". geekwire.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ^ "Why Sonder—a boutique hotel chain that operates like Airbnb—is a growing threat to the hospitality industry". fastcompany.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ^ "A Hospitality Brand for the Post-Pandemic Future". surfacemag.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ^ "Planned Uptown Dallas tower would start as short stay rentals then switch to condos". Dallas News. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ Adelman, Jacob; Oppenheim, Oren. "Renters are being forced out of Old City apartments to make way for Philly visitors". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ Morris, Sebastian (2019-10-21). "New Renderings Revealed for 23-20 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, Queens". New York YIMBY. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
- ^ "Sonder inks lease for flagship Wynwood hotel". The Real Deal Miami. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
- ^ "10 major hotel projects expected to break ground in Denver in 2020". BusinessDen. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- ^ "Sonder to open in Flatiron Hotel next month". therealdeal.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
- ^ "About Sonder)". Sonder. 2021-05-02.
- ^ "Sonder - Building the future of hospitality". USStock. 2021-05-02.
- ^ "Short-term rental companies, facing fines, fight Boston enforcement". Boston Herald. 2019-12-22. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
- ^ "Developer agrees to scale back short-term rentals at Minneapolis complex". Star Tribune. 2019-07-16.
- Travel and holiday companies of the United States
- Hospitality companies of the United States
- Apartment hotels
- Vacation rental
- 2014 establishments in Quebec
- Companies based in San Francisco
- Announced mergers and acquisitions