Satisfying My Sonder Curiosity
How does the Airbnb alternative stack up?
Before the pandemic, I did a fair amount of traveling for work. While I was comfortable in business hotels, I often stayed in a place longer than a day or two and found the comforts of an apartment (kitchen, separate rooms for TV/work/bed) to be quite nice to have.
I ended up staying in a few Airbnb’s and had some pretty good experiences.
When I started traveling again, I returned to look for places to stay — hotel prices seemed higher, Airbnb seemed fine, and then I noted an emerging alternative: Sonder.
The rooms were more than a hotel — very apartment-like, at least in pictures. The prices were typically cheaper than good-quality business hotels and Sonder lacked the fees associated with Airbnb.
Could it be? Is there an Airbnb alternative that’s competitive with or even cheaper than a hotel?
Then, not long ago, I read this story by Ellen Eastwood.
