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The specific Sonder hotel mentioned in the article is still listed on the Mariott web site.[1] "A stay you can count on. Experience travel without the guesswor
by Animats 1y ago
The specific Sonder hotel mentioned in the article is still listed on the Mariott web site.[1]
"A stay you can count on. Experience travel without the guesswork. While every space is unique, you can always count on the Sonder Standard. All stays feature designer details, keyless entry, fast free WiFi and our 24/7 digital concierge."
Trying to make a reservation returns "Your session timed out, but you can start a new hotel search below."
This badly hurts Mariott's brand. Their page reads as if they stand behind Sonder.
Marriott supposedly has about 30 brands, and now you have to ask which of them are fake fronts.
[1] https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/nycho-the-merchant-hotel-sonder/overview/ https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/nycho-the-merchant-hot...
- lotsofpulp 1y agoIncredible, given the hurdles Marriott asks franchisors to jump through.
- vkou 1y agoA good franchise will bring in X million in profits and a bad one will bring in XYZ million in reputational damage. A good unicorn will bring in XYZ billion[1] in profits and a bad one will bring in XYZ million in reputational damage. Which is exactly why franchise operators get put through the wringer, while 'pod hotel but with an app' startups get the red carpet treatment. --- [1] Yes, I know that is bullshit, but I'm not an exec, I don't get paid to be wildly optimistic.
- MattGaiser 1y agoI get a big red popup saying that Sonder is no longer affiliated with Marriott?
- Animats 1y agoNot getting that here, but some images are returning 404 errors. Somewhere, someone is probably trying to scrub the Mariott site manually.
- Animats 1y agoSeveral days later, the purge seems to be complete: "Sorry, we can't find the page you requested. You may have received this message because this page you seek is no longer available on Marriott website."
- aurumque 1y agoHaving been affected by this personally, I don't think Marriott cares about their brand at this point as they have achieved relative monopoly status. There are plenty of other horrible things they've accomplished in the last few years besides this. It makes me want to watch out for CitizenM similarly, because it's increasingly unclear what Marriott's actual role in your stay even is anymore.
- lotsofpulp 1y agoThe term monopoly means nothing if Marriott is one. Not only does Marriott not own 95% of hotels with their brands, but in any given area, you can almost certainly find a competing Hilton/IHG/Choice/Hyatt brand. It’s about as competitive as a market can get. What you probably are not aware of is a location where half or more hotels of the above brands are owned by the same people, and they franchise all the brands and choose all the prices. But even that is relatively rare.
- aworks 1y agoI took a long road trip this summer and felt like I had plenty of options. My cumulative stays ended up: 1) Hilton 2) IHG 3) Choice 4) camping 5) AirBnB My Hyatt and Marriott experiences sucked...
- colechristensen 1y agoI have stayed at a bunch of hotels in the last six months and come to the conclusion that price, brand, and reviews have no relation at all with quality.
- accrual 1y agoDid you discover any reliable indicators for how good the stay would be?
- lotsofpulp 1y agoThe staff turnover in 95% of hotels is so high, you need reviews from at least a few recent guests to be able to predict anything.
- aworks 1y agoI mostly look at the most recent reviews, and found them useful if not definitive.
- Projectiboga 1y agoLots of brand variants which are likely franchises without the absolute control that a successful chain like McDonald's enforces.