The review is NOT about the place, but experience with the host, because I didn’t get to stay.
Long story short, I got Covid the week of checking in and didn’t want to go for fear of spreading it to other guests. I contacted Sonder and was told by a customer rep that they’d offer me a change of date, but none of the dates would work because the price would increase significantly. Past the check-in date, the rep told me that because I didn’t check in, they would offer me a refund, but since I booked via Airbnb, I should contact Airbnb to get the money back because Sonder hadn’t receive the money yet.
I contacted Airbnb support and told them that Sonder has offered to refund me despite their policy. Airbnb support told me that while the host is able to offer refund even if the host’s policy says no, they called Sonder and someone in Sonder’s support team said there would be no refund, so there’s nothing Airbnb can do. I messaged Sonder again, and received a confirmation again from the Sonder rep that I should be able to get a refund, but I needed to contact Airbnb because Sonder had not received the money. The rep also said they would check with their team for update.
Finally, another rep from Sonder messaged me and said that they are “strictly bound” by Airbnb and cannot offer refund (even though Airbnb support told me that the host is able to offer the refund). This whole thing has been unnecessarily frustrating and definitely the worst experience with booking I’ve ever had, and I’ve used Airbnb for 7 years. I’ll stick to hotels from now on.