Sonder Takes Airbnb-Aesthetic to Hotels in New York, London

(Bloomberg) -- In the past year, hotel chains and home-sharing sites have started encroaching on each other’s turf. Airbnb Inc. advertises hotel rooms on its platform and Marriott International Inc. recently launched a home-stay offering.

The latest player to blur the lines is short-term rental start up Sonder. The San Francisco-based hospitality company is expanding beyond its network of custom-designed vacation apartments, signing leases with 17 off-the-beaten-path, mom-and-pop style hotels in New York, London, Dublin and other cities in recent months – and is negotiating an additional 40 properties.

Sonder targets the sweet spot between a home and a hotel, merging the vibe of an Airbnb in a hip neighborhood with the convenience of a hotel’s 24/7 concierge and professionally cleaned sheets. Sonder advertises its units on Airbnb and Expedia Group Inc.’s Vrbo, complying with local rules and regulations in the 21 cities where it operates.

After raising $225 million in a funding round in July, valuing the company at more than $1 billion, Sonder decided to veer away from its traditional short-term rental model and elbow its way into the hotel industry.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Francis Davidson says Sonder will be raking in more revenue than Marriott by 2025. That won’t be easy: The world’s largest hotel company had revenue of $21 billion last year and manages more than 1 million rooms.

By contrast, Sonder has 10,000 listings, albeit five times as many as it did a year ago. Moreover, its business model has some unwelcome parallels. Leasing space under long-term deals for short-term stays is what led WeWork Cos. to accumulate a pile of debt, which generated investor blow back and ultimately forced the postponement of its public market debut.

“We have seen how bad the reception was for WeWork doing leases and how it eats into profitability, especially in the initial phase when the company signs all these leases,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh. “The question is, what is it technologically that differentiates them from hotel chains – why would anybody pick a Sonder over a hotel?”

Davidson says Sonder can charge 20% less than a four-star hotel, using technology to reduce costs and provide guests with a seamless on-app check-in, keyless entry and a mobile concierge. “Our big edge over hotels is that their model hasn’t evolved in the last 40 years,” Davidson says, adding that Sonder’s units are typically found in neighborhoods that major hotels don’t usually occupy.

The company has taken over old hat factories, police stables and small historic hotels like Philadelphia Queen Hotel, The Abbey Hotel in Miami or the Flatiron Hotel in New York.

Chirag Patel, who runs a family business of 10 small hotel properties in California, working with Sonder has removed his daily administrative tasks without denting his profits. “You get a fresh new look instead of the regular old 40 - 50 rooms that all look pretty much the same,” he says.

Lodging researcher and former New York University hospitality dean Bjorn Hanson says Sonder will likely come as a relief to mom-and-pop hotel owners like Patel, who may be tired of operating in a highly volatile market. At least with Sonder, “they pay the lease, they bear the risk,” he says.

To contact the reporter on this story: Olivia Carville in New York at ocarville1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Robin Ajello

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