We planned this trip in advance and wanted a great location to stay in. I read some reviews and a recent review indicated there was an issue with the specific Airbnb location on Canal Street not having any hot water. Now, we had made a road trip from the middle of the East Coast all the way to New Orleans, as a couple of us had never been, so not only was it going to be a great 40th birthday trip, but it was also going to a great first for the remainder of my guests.
I had already booked for 2 days and 3 nights in great proximity to everything we needed access to in the French Quarter. Once the booking was made, I reached out and asked if the hot water issue had been resolved. We told it had been. I've been in extreme environments and had hot water (including in actual combat zones overseas). I didn't think that having something as simple as hot water given what I paid for the Airbnb would be an issue.
The first night, and each night after, we didn't have any hot water in the shower. I reached out each night to let Sonder know that we didn't have any hot water. Nothing was done the first day. Reached out again, and they said they would send someone by to fix it while we were out. I asked if they would contact me after to indicate the disposition of the fix/status. They indicated they in fact would contact me after, like I had asked them to do.
We get back after a long day of exploring and taking in the sights. First, nothing was fixed after we checked it. Second, they didn't contact me like I asked and that they had confirmed they would. Additionally, and this should have been mentioned, they had an entire separate app you had to download to make everything happen with the Airbnb booking. I'm not entirely sure if that's acceptable or not, but I'd recommend anyone (if you mistakenly decide to book this property) go STRICLY through the Airbnb platform. I don't recommend anyone booking this property.
I contact a rep through the Sonder app and get disconnected a few times only to have to RESTART my conversations, wasting even more precious time when I could have been enjoying the city. The app isn't very well designed in that regard. A couple of the reps were great in communication, but all most of them could do was just apologize.
The next night, we had the same issue, no hot water before continuing the next leg of our trip headed west. We eventually received a $100 refund, even though we didn't have any hot water throughout the visit to shower with. We kept getting apology after apology during our contact in the Sonder app with the reps. The issue was "allegedly" fixed AFTER we departed our set time.
In the Airbnb app, we were asked how our stay was, and whomever was on the Sonder end through the actual Airbnb platform initially said they didn't see the correspondence between myself and the Sonder reps. I pointed out I had several conversations. Finally, they agreed after "thorough" review. Once I mentioned how ruined our trip was because we didn't even have the basics of hot water, all they could do was apologize. The refund was nowhere near adequate, and they should have refunded all of it to pay for a better Airbnb elsewhere in the city.
Under NO circumstances would I recommend staying here, booking a Sonder property, or using their app.