Sonder Corp.

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Sonder Corp.
IndustryHospitality
Founded2014
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
FounderFrancis Davidson
Lucas Pellan
Martin Picard
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, USA
Area served
North America, Europe, Dubai
Key people
Francis Davidson (CEO)
Sanjay Banker (CFO and President)
Satyen Pandya (CTO)
Websitesonder.com

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[]

  1. ^ Morris, Keiko. "This Dallas Apartment Building's Sole Tenant Is a New Lodging Company". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  2. ^ "Sonder Corp". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Montreal-founded Sonder raises $225-million in financing, plans to open second headquarters in Canada". Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "Airbnb Competitor Sonder Now Valued at $1 Billion". The Real Deal New York. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  7. ^ a b "Hospitality startup Sonder slashes workforce". The Real Deal New York. 2020-03-24.
  8. ^ a b "VC-backed Sonder beefs up executive suite". therealdeal.com. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  9. ^ "Sonder to Go Public at $2.2 Billion Valuation as Short-Term Rental Sector Stays Hot". skift.com. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
  10. ^ Sharf, Samantha. "Airbnb Arbitrage: How Professional Hosts Are Filling The Unicorn's Call For Quality Rentals". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  11. ^ Roof, Katie. "Sonder Poised to Become Airbnb's Billion-Dollar Competitor". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "Disruptors in the Short-Term Rental Space". National Apartment Association. 2019-04-23. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  14. ^ Putzier, Konrad. "In the Airbnb Era, Apartment Landlords Are the New Hoteliers". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  15. ^ Loizos, Connie (January 6, 2020). "The Guild, which turns apartments into short-term rentals, has nabbed $25 million in Series B funding". TechCrunch.
  16. ^ "The 10 Best Alternatives to Airbnb". curbed.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  17. ^ "Part apartment, part hotel, Sonder moves into Seattle with its tech-enabled hospitality option". geekwire.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  18. ^ "Why Sonder—a boutique hotel chain that operates like Airbnb—is a growing threat to the hospitality industry". fastcompany.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  19. ^ "A Hospitality Brand for the Post-Pandemic Future". surfacemag.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  20. ^ "Planned Uptown Dallas tower would start as short stay rentals then switch to condos". Dallas News. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  21. ^ 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.
  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.
  23. ^ "Sonder inks lease for flagship Wynwood hotel". The Real Deal Miami. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  24. ^ "10 major hotel projects expected to break ground in Denver in 2020". BusinessDen. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  25. ^ "Sonder to open in Flatiron Hotel next month". therealdeal.com. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  26. ^ "About Sonder)". Sonder. 2021-05-02.
  27. ^ "Sonder - Building the future of hospitality". USStock. 2021-05-02.
  28. ^ "Short-term rental companies, facing fines, fight Boston enforcement". Boston Herald. 2019-12-22. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  29. ^ "Developer agrees to scale back short-term rentals at Minneapolis complex". Star Tribune. 2019-07-16.
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