A Closer Look at Sonder’s Tech-Focused Bet on Next-Gen Rentals
Photo Credit: Francis Davidson is the 26-year-old CEO of Sonder, a next-generation serviced apartments brand. He said that technology can wring out operational inefficiencies and make the concept more lucrative. Sonder
Skift Take
Hotel-style accommodations brand Sonder has hit on a plausible business that uses technology to wring out inefficiencies from key processes. But several questions still hover around its model, as investment money gushes into the segment.
Step into Sonder's latest outpost in Philadelphia's museum district and you could be forgiven for believing you were in a hip, almost boutique, hotel. One of the units, a studio apartment, has a four-poster bed and a kitchen stocked with cooking equipment and stainless-steel appliances.
But Sonder isn't a hotel; it's a serviced apartment licensed to run as a hotel. Serviced apartments aren't new, of course. But Sonder is using technology to give the concept a fresh spin. Investors have invested $135 million in the San Francisco-based company since its founding in 2012. The startup runs currently bookable units in 13 U.S. cities plus London, Montréal, and Rome.
In the next year, Sonder expects to book about $250 million in revenue, said an investor pitch deck obtained by Skift. In 2018, Sonder's daily rate averaged $201, across cities. The average daily rate ranged from $100 a night in Montreal to $300 a night in London and worked out to $129 per bedroom.
Last year, Sonder
