Marriott International, Inc. is terminating its licensing agreement with Sonder Holdings Inc. after just over a year, citing the hospitality company’s default.
The end of the contract means that Marriott’s system will no longer feature Sonder’s properties or rooms for booking.
It also means that Marriott’s net rooms growth for the year is expected to decrease 0.5 percent from its third-quarter prediction, at 4.5 percent total growth from 2024. This is the only metric Marriott mentioned would shift due to the break in contract.
Marriott and Sonder penned the long-term licensing agreement back in August, 2024, adding over 9,000 rooms and 1,500 rooms in development to Marriott Bonvoy, under the Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy collection. Sonder offers around 200 apartment-style accommodations in cities across the globe.
According to the agreement, Marriott was set to receive royalties based on a percentage of the hotels’ gross room revenues.
Sonder’s financials weren’t looking good in its second-quarter 2025 financial statement, which was released in October: its net loss was $44.5 million, and its adjusted EBITDA was only $2.6 million. Revenue had decreased 11 percent year-over-year, at $147.1 million.
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