>She said there was a sharp decline in revenue "arising from Sonder's participation in Marriott's Bonvoy reservation system".
This will be an interesting case study to piece together. What were the factors that lead revenue to go down on expansion of your marketing and access reach?
I have my own suspicions, but the backstory with this is probably way crazier than I'm even thinking. Like, "Why would anyone ever sign that?" level crazy.
It's agreement with Marriot was "completed" in August 2024. It was absolutely a hail mary.
While they might describe it as a integration failure, I think what they were actually hoping for was:
a) integration into Marriot's reservation system would reduce operating costs. From my user perspective, it looked like the Sonder system got completely replaced (like I had to make a new account and upload new ID...).
b) "Somehow" the Marriot integration would lead to increased bookings.
Both their 2025 and 2024 annual filings indicate that they were well aware of where things were going. Honestly, the filings don't really paint an optimistic picture of their ability to succeed, even with the Marriot deal.
I've been guessing that the problems existed prior to the Marriot deal; why would they give up their front door to a competitor otherwise? But I agree that it's got to be a wildly crazy story.
This will be an interesting case study to piece together. What were the factors that lead revenue to go down on expansion of your marketing and access reach?
I have my own suspicions, but the backstory with this is probably way crazier than I'm even thinking. Like, "Why would anyone ever sign that?" level crazy.