Articles tagged “sonder”

Sometimes CEO views of where online travel is headed seem more about the capabilities of their companies than anything else. Will pandemic-induced travel preferences make for dominant trends five or 10 years from now? Highly doubtful.

Sonder is now the second unicorn in the short-term rental and hotel sector after Airbnb. At this rate, Sonder will IPO before Airbnb.

Expedia Group is trying to simplify its far-flung operations, and its multifamily, short-term rental business wasn't a core endeavor. That's especially true when you consider how Covid-19 has decimated demand for such properties in urban areas.

U.S. hoteliers are finding their pricing options constrained because of an influx of both short-term rental supply during peak periods, and because of hotel construction. Hoteliers may decide to get into the short-term rental market or not, but they increasingly have to take it into account when fine-tuning pricing strategies.

Adding someone as experienced as Frits van Paasschen to its board is a sure sign that Sonder is serious about making a big leap forward in 2020.

The Guild, a hospitality startup, is not quite a hotel but not quite Airbnb. It's betting on $25 million in new funding to expand its apartment-like accommodations to urban centers to attract more business travelers.

CEO Francis Davidson is clearly very, very ambitious — and has identified a path for Sonder to go on and challenge the very biggest names in hospitality.

Nowhere is the need for a more tech-driven, business-oriented model for setting rates more clear than with short-term rental property management companies. Several startups aim to supercharge rate-setting with data-powered insights. But there's probably too many of these young companies for them to all survive long-term.

This week’s travel startups, including Sonder, StayPlease, and Bolt, released a series of funding announcements, many of them for undisclosed amounts.

Sonder's hotel-style serviced apartments operate in that sweet spot between Airbnb homeshares and full-on hotels. There are, of course, plenty of rivals doing a similar thing, but this funding round will enable Sonder to expand its business and give it a competitive edge.