I think this is the first entirely negative review I've ever left after many years of staying at AirBnB properties, but Sonder deserves it.
The two most important things to note are these: The place that you are looking at in the photos above is probably not the place you are going to rent. Sonder explains this with a little disclaimer at the end, saying that while the style is consistent, the layout or design is variable. However, Sonder will use this disclaimer to hide behind things that go beyond layout. For example, I specifically rent places that have a nice sofa for two reasons: the gf and I like to watch movies on the couch at the end of the day and I sometimes kick in my sleep so my gf likes to have the option to move to the sofa.
When we arrived at the place, the layout was indeed a bit different, definitely smaller than what you see in the photos above. That wasn't a big deal to me, but what was a big deal is that there was no sofa, just two small chairs. When I used the Sonder app to ask what the deal was, I was informed that their disclaimer of variable layouts within the property meant that different furniture was to sometimes be expected and there was nothing I could do. As I said to them, "layout" and "furniture" are not at all synonymous and that was a ridiculous thing to hide behind. By this logic they could not include a bed and say "oh well, this place has a different layout."
I got passed around to 5 or 6 different people before someone said they'd open a case and get back to me 24-48 hrs later. Hear that? If something is wrong at your property they'll get back to you once your vacation is half over. In fact, no one ever got back to me.
The bed we slept on for two nights was the hardest bed I have ever slept on in any of the 30 plus countries I've visited. My gf slept on the floor since she thought it was more comfortable than the bed. We didn't get much sleep, and since no sofa was forthcoming we ended up canceling the remaining two days of our rental and going someplace else. At the end of it all, we were out several hundred dollars and never got an adequate response from Sonder. Their business model is misleading and sketchy. They could easily take photos of each of their apartments like everyone else on this app does, but they choose to post these pretty photos and hide behind a disclaimer so they can sell you on something that you're not actually getting. And then when you complain, they just pass you around to 5 or 6 people that never actually help you. It's all very, very sketchy.