I started working for this company about a year ago, and many of us were very excited about where the company was going. It seemed like they had a good product and we were excited to be a part of the company's mission. A few months in, that perception started to change, or maybe our CEO just started to show his true colors. I genuinely believe that he started the company with the best of intentions, but over time, I honestly think his pride got the best of him. He always talked about building the most beloved hospitality brand in the world - bigger than any of the other hotel chains and comparable to several Fortune 500 companies. I think it's fine to have a vision, but the way he chose to pursue this vision is what disappoints me. The past several months that I worked at Sonder, it seemed the only goal was expansion, often at the expense of employee and customer satisfaction. At the risk of sounding cliché, we were flying too close to the sun. There is much more that I could write, and I have certainly tried to, but I am genuinely exhausted from thinking and talking about this company. If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have given you a point-by-point breakdown of what we could have been doing better, and it would have been at least a twenty minute read. I wasn't simply looking for things to be angry about. I genuinely cared about the company. If I hadn't, I would have kept my mouth shut. I gave much of my time and mental energy to this company, and the day that they let me go, along with over 30% of our overall workforce, the most they could spare was a 5-minute video call and a brief, disingenuous "thank you".
Like I said, I used to have more words, but maybe my speechlessness speaks for itself. When the dust from this global pandemic clears, I believe Sonder will be remembered, above all, for its lack of empathy in these trying times. My last week of work at the company was spent repeatedly turning down requests from customers for refunds. Thousands of our customers had to cancel their plans, and we were told to simply turn down any refunds that were requested, even if the online travel agency they had booked through was offering refunds due to COVID-19 cancellations. They worked us to the bone that last week. It was genuinely mentally and emotionally taxing, to the point that many in my department legitimately began to have panic attacks or breakdowns when at work. Then, when the brunt of the work was done, and we had successfully denied thousands of people the refunds that they were rightly owed, the management team cut out 30% of their staff with no warning and a 5-minute video call. I understand these are difficult times for the hospitality industry, but it's also difficult times for everyone else. In the end, my experience with Sonder ended up being one of the weirdest, most frustrating years of my life.
