I booked a room at Sonder due to the location and I was looking for something simple, clean and convenient. The room was exactly as described, clean and comfortable.
The check in experience was unacceptable. I have stayed at places with a self check in numerous times, and it was always easy and efficient. At Sonder this wasn't the case unfortunately. I arrived exhausted, after a transatlantic flight, and I realized that the email that they sent me with the code for check in, did not include the code. I asked the doorman and he wasn't eager to help at all. He just told me that I need to message Sonder. Contacting Sonder is not that simple, since your are communicating with a customer service centre. My data on my phone did not work yet, so I had to connect to the lobby wifi which did not work properly. I had to download a special phone application in order to communicate with Sonder customer support. The lobby wifi kept disconnecting me and every time I had to reconnect to the Sonder Application and every time I was texting with a different person from their customer support centre. It was a mess. I had to explain my situation everytime and confirm my personal details. After endless messages they gave me a code in order to enter my room, but it wasn't working. It was 11pm and I was still not able to check in. I felt so desperate not being able to simply call someone specific instead of communicating with an impersonal customer centre who seemed to have no idea what's going on. This entire process lasted more than 3 hours. Finally they decided to offer me another room and gave me a different code in order to enter this room. They said that apparently my room's electronic lock was broken. The next morning at 10am they came to my room, unannounced and told me I need to move rooms, and go to the one I had initially booked, where they had finally fixed the electronic lock. The rooms were almost identical, I did not understand why I had to move.
Finally, on my last day, after check out, I wanted to store my luggage. There are some lockers where you can do that. There was only one locker available, for my friend's luggage. I asked the doorman and he told me he couldn't help me and that there are no other lockers available. I had a late evening flight, and I had to carry my luggage around NYC.