This is the newest location for Sonder brand. I had heard great things about other locations and my trip was last minute and my usual place was not available, so I gave it a try. New is usually great but it came with serious issues.
1. They have one (ONLY ONE) person on staff and premises at a time. I would say 75% of the time no one is at the front desk.
2. The front door is locked. So if no one is at the front desk, you are out of luck getting in. You basically wait in hopes that staff will be back sooner rather than later.
3. When I checked in, I was told I can use the parking lot but they would have to let me in and out. I stressed that I leave for work at 4am. I was told someone would be around to let me out in the morning. They assured me, I would have no issues. When I came out that morning, no one was at the front desk to let me out. I was about an hour late for work. In my field, I can’t be late. This resulted in me losing pay for that day. When they rectified the situation I was given a key fob to get in and out of the building but they ended up leaving the gates open, so the fob was a moot point. They said sorry but that was about it.
4. The pictures are not necessarily the room you will get. When I first checked in, the room was very very very very small. I asked to be moved since I was there for 10 days. No one got back to me. But rightfully so, being that there is only one person on premises and he had a lot to do. I was finally moved the next morning but I had to call the corporate office to make it happen.
5. The laundry facility is nice, as is the communal kitchen; but post Covid, I did not cook in the kitchen. I did use the laundry room. You have to download an app and pay with your phone and their is a 10 dollar minimum, which I found annoying. But nevertheless, I had to do laundry. After downloading the app and paying for laundry I found out a washer was not working. After about 15 minutes of waiting at the front desk, a staff person appeared. She told me I should deal directly with the laundry place as it would be easier. She said sorry. She never put a note on the washer so other guests would know it was broken. I was left to fend for myself. After I contacted the laundry company, I got myself a refund.
6. The key cards only work to get you into your room. Not any other doors on the premises. The app was not helpful in fixing this. I started leaving trash outside my door, since there isn’t a cleaning service and I did but have access to the trash shoot.
7. The water pressure is less than dismal. I have long curly hair, and need water pressure to wash my hair. It was lack luster at best. But they had a nice brand of soap in the bathrooms and showers.
8. The room comes with a upright armoire but no dresser. If you are staying for a long time, like me, this isn’t good. Living out of a suitcase can be challenging.
9. I decided to leave a day early. When I asked about this at the front desk, I was told to contact corporate. When I contacted corporate, they told me they would make an exception and let me leave a day early and give back the money for the unused night. Honestly, they didn’t do me any favors. I let them know 48 hours before that the reservation would be changing. I just didn’t know I needed to tell corporate.
10. The internet is hit or miss. It also is an unsecured network. If you have sensitive information on your laptop, I’d recommend using a hotspot device. Their network was too unstable to utilize video conference or Zoom. Luckily for me, I had an additional WiFi hotspot. If I didn’t have that, I would have missed more work.
All and all, the room was nice enough and clean. It is a new hotel, so everything is in working order to an extent. For the price and lack of staff and service, I’m not sure I will stay here again. I understand growing pains when a place first opens, but this seemed problematic at every turn. Especially not having a person at the front desk, in the lobby at all times.
I would like to say that the staff was really nice. Most of them did their best to accommodate my needs and concerns. They were just spread too thin.