Will User Reviews Impact Sonder's and Vacasa's Debuts as Public Companies?

Will negative chatter in user reviews about Sonder, the hotel and short-term rental business, have any impact on its expected public market debut in 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company merger?

We took a look at Trustpilot's user review ratings and review scores for Sonder and Vacasa, the property management company that is likewise slated to go public this year, to gauge guest sentiment and stay quality. Trustpilot, which collects user reviews in categories ranging from travel to insurance, is one of the few review sites covering travel to produce an overall company score and not one just for individual hotels or short-term rentals, as Tripadvisor does.

Trustpilot User Review Data for Sonder and Vacasa CompanyNumber of ReviewsProfile StatusTrustpilot CategoryRatingsReview ScoreAvantStay247ClaimedVacation RentalExcellent4.5Vacasa5,343ClaimedVacation RentalGreat4Vrbo11,3212ClaimedTravel AgencyAverage3.4Sonder120UnclaimedN/ABad1.5Airbnb8,119ClaimedVacation RentalBad1.4Booking.com27,607ClaimedTravel AggregatorBad1.4

In the chart, you can see that Trustpilot rated Sonder as "bad" with just a 1.5 out of 5 review score. The caveat is that there were only 120 user reviews of Sonder, and the company hasn't "claimed" its profile. Companies such as Vacasa, which generated a "great" rating with a review score of 4