Sonder Corp.

Sonder Corp. is an apartment-hotel company that manages short-term rentals in North America and Europe.[1][2] It was founded in Montreal, Canada, and since 2016 has been based in San Francisco, California, in the United States.[3][4]

Sonder Corp.
IndustryHospitality
FoundedMontreal, Canada
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Area served
North America, Europe and Dubai
Websitehttps://www.sonder.com/

History and services

Sonder managed 5,000 apartments in the United States as of March 2020.[5] As of 2019, Sonder was the largest professional host on the lodging website Airbnb.[6] Sonder has also been described as a competitor to Airbnb.[7] Its competitors in the short-term rental market include Domio Inc., Lyric Hospitality and The Guild.[8][9]

In addition to managing apartments in existing buildings, Sonder constructs its own housing. As of January 2020, Sonder had apartment construction projects planned in Dallas, Denver, Miami, New York City and Philadelphia.[10][11][12][13][14]

The company had raised $400 million in capital funding as of 2019 and claimed its worth at $1 billion.[15]

In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sonder laid off 400 employees, one-third of its staff.[5]

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.[16]

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 units.[17]

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. "Hospitality startup Sonder slashes workforce". The Real Deal New York. 2020-03-24.
  6. Sharf, Samantha. "Airbnb Arbitrage: How Professional Hosts Are Filling The Unicorn's Call For Quality Rentals". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  7. Roof, Katie. "Sonder Poised to Become Airbnb's Billion-Dollar Competitor". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  8. Putzier, Konrad. "In the Airbnb Era, Apartment Landlords Are the New Hoteliers". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  9. Loizos, Connie (January 6, 2020). "The Guild, which turns apartments into short-term rentals, has nabbed $25 million in Series B funding". TechCrunch.
  10. "Planned Uptown Dallas tower would start as short stay rentals then switch to condos". Dallas News. 2019-10-15. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. "Sonder inks lease for flagship Wynwood hotel". The Real Deal Miami. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  14. "10 major hotel projects expected to break ground in Denver in 2020". BusinessDen. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  15. "Airbnb Competitor Sonder Now Valued at $1 Billion". The Real Deal New York. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  16. "Short-term rental companies, facing fines, fight Boston enforcement". Boston Herald. 2019-12-22. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  17. "Developer agrees to scale back short-term rentals at Minneapolis complex". Star Tribune. 2019-07-16.
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