This was a really tough one to write. Sonder is always a great company to stay with, and this trip was no different, but I need to be honest in this review because I really don't want future Airbnbers to have the same struggles we did.
I'll mention all the positives of this place at the end (there were many!) but need to lead off with the major issues we had: this was, BY FAR, the noisiest and brightest Airbnb / hotel room / apartment I have ever tried to sleep in. There is a small warning in the description that states: "This is a central location and prone to noise". I live in downtown Austin in the middle of the loudest nightlife district in the city, and I promise it is not as disruptive as this Airbnb was. The issue appears to be the older building, which seems to lack in good sound-proofed windows and insulation. It literally sounded like I was sleeping in a cot on the street; every single sound, from two people talking on the sidewalk 11 stories below, to random cars honking, to buses and trucks rolling through, sounded as if it was feet away from my bed. This made it IMPOSSIBLE to sleep, and this was one of the worst nights of sleep I've ever had in my life. The worst was the car horns; for some reason in New Orleans in this area, you will hear a car horn, throughout the entire night, roughly ever 30 seconds, and every single one of these sounded like the car was parked in the living room.
The one thing I will give Sonder some leeway on is I don't think this would be super easy to fix; the main problem is likely the windows, which are clearly old single-pane glass that do not muffle the noise at all. Where I live in Austin I am in a much louder and rowdier part of town, but I am in a modern apartment with double-pane windows, insulation, etc. On the street, my neighborhood in Austin is way louder than this part of New Orleans. In the apartments, it wasn't even close; New Orleans was nearly unbearable while most of the noise in Austin is muffled. That being said, this is an old building. I am not sure how likely it is that Sonder could make significant improvements without a massive renovation. What I WOULD say is that their warning on the listing should be WAY more clear about the noise levels, AND they should supply eye masks and ear plugs (and maybe a specific note in the unit) to prevent the issues we had. Sonder did give us those materials, but I had to ask for them, and when I did the customer service agent initially did not take my concerns seriously because she claimed there was a clear warning in the description.
Something Sonder COULD fix pretty easily is the other major problem we had, which was the brightness of the bedroom. The Airbnb is in the Warehouse district, and like any city it stays fairly bright even at night. However, the windows had only fairly minimal, thin venetian blinds that did not do much to hide the light. This combined with the noise to make it very hard to sleep. This unit absolutely needs drapes and/or blackout curtains; venetian blinds are not going to cut it with that many bright lights right outside the window.
The final issue we had was the furniture and layout; this is another one that Sonder does warn about in their description, but in our opinion this does not follow the spirit of Airbnb. My wife is an interior designer, and as such, a large part of her selection process for Airbnbs to stay in is decided by how well designed the interior is. She absolutely loved the pictures of the apartment shown on this listing, but when we arrived we were disappointed to find that the apartment looked significantly different. All of the furniture was different from the pictures, and did not look as nice; the wall decorations were different and inferior; and none of the rugs matched, and also had upturned edges that were major tripping hazards. Again, this is something Sonder states in the description and on their website, but we did not book this through Sonder; we booked through Airbnb, and our expectation with Airbnb is that the pictures we see should match what the room looks like when we arrive. If Sonder can't support that for whatever reason I am not sure they should list on Airbnb, as it a major disappointment to arrive to an inferior room.
Finally, a few positives about this room, just to show it wasn't all bad:
- Location was amazing, with multiple awesome bars and restaurants nearby, and easy walking access to most of the tourist areas in town
- Sonder's actual service, as always, was quite good, with good cleaning, easy-to-reach agents, etc
- The check in and check out process were smooth
Overall, this is a harsh review, but I really want to try to prevent people having the rough nights we did