Getting ready for a holiday trip should be fun, but things have gotten messy in the travel world lately. TikTok user Katie Newton just found out her New York City hotel booking got canceled out of nowhere. She had reserved a room at a Marriott hotel through a company called Sonder, a business that handles short-term rentals and small hotels.
According to Bro Bible, Newton posted a video on TikTok about what happened, and more than 385,000 people have watched it. “Our New York City hotel reservation just got canceled,” she explained. “We were supposed to be staying with the Marriott through Sonder, and they just canceled their partnership together, and now, we’re left without a hotel.”
What really surprised people was how nobody saw this coming. One person who used to work for Sonder wrote on Reddit that even the staff didn’t know what was going on. “Many of us on the ground didn’t even hear the news from corporate. We found out from guests,” they said. Everyone got caught off guard by the news.
When you’re stuck without a hotel, customer service should help
Things got worse when people tried to get help. Sonder gave out a phone number that guests could call, but the New York Times reported that the number didn’t even work. When people tried calling, they got a message saying it was out of service. So travelers had no way to reach anyone for help.
@ktbrooke97 Replying to @Rachel tik tok please help!! Has anyone had a last minute hotel cancellation like this?! I’m devastated and don’t know what to do
♬ original sound – katie#nyc #marriott #newyorkcity #hotels #sonder we booked through @Hotels.com and really hoping they pull through here
Newton is worried because she only has three weeks to find a new place to stay. Hotels in New York City cost a lot of money during the holidays, and she’s running out of options. “My dream trip is gonna be ruined,” she said. “We’re gonna have to cancel everything, and I just don’t know what to do.” While some hotels have tried offering cheap rooms with strange conditions, finding something affordable during busy times is really hard.
The whole mess started when Sonder said it was closing down and going through Chapter 7 liquidation. They also said that Marriott-Bonvoy had ended their deal the day before. That meant anyone who booked a Marriott hotel through Sonder didn’t have a reservation anymore.
Even if people get their money back, that doesn’t help much when new bookings cost way more or aren’t available at all. The Marriott page on Reddit is full of people sharing similar problems. These problems show how sudden business changes can create big headaches for travelers.
