Stranded hotel guests offered loyalty points after cancellations | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Imagine staying in a hotel on vacation and suddenly being told that the company was liquidating and that you had to vacate your room that same day.

This would be both frustrating and frightening as you scramble to find new accommodations when you are far away from home.

Now, imagine that instead of being offered actual compensation by the major hotel chain that put you in this position, you are offered just a few loyalty points – and only if you specifically request them.

Unfortunately, this is the situation many guests have faced recently.

Here’s how these guests ended up stranded, along with details on the response from the hotel chain.

Some hotel guests had to leave with no warning.

Shutterstock

Hotel guests left stranded due to liquidation

On November 10, 2025, Sonder Holdings Inc. announced it would immediately begin winding down operations and initiate Chapter 7 litigation.

Sonder operated “intimate boutique hotels” and “design-forward apartments,” according to the announcement. It also had a partnership with Marriott International.

Unfortunately, on Sunday, November 9, Marriott terminated the licensing agreement with Sonder. Marriott announced that the partnership was no longer in effect. This left Sonder scrambling to evaluate financing options and strategic alternatives before deciding to wind down operations immediately.

When Sonder decided to wind down operations, it abruptly canceled guests’ reservations. Marriott also reportedly told customers who were already staying at Sonder properties that they had to vacate their accommodations immediately.

Guests struggle to find alternatives as they’re kicked out of their rooms

Marriott’s end to the partnership and the abrupt decision of Sonder to wind down operations left many guests stranded and panicking.

“I literally freaked out,” Carol Tsai, a Sonder hotel guest in London, told CBC, explaining that she had paid for her stay in full and returned from a day of sightseeing before getting an email telling her that she had to leave immediately.

Minjun Chen and Kevin Ngo, two New York City content creators, shared on TikTok a similar story of being ejected from their accommodations. “I got a random email from Marriott being like, ‘Marriott and Sonder have cancelled their partnership, your existing reservation is no longer in effect. You need to move out immediately,” said Ngo in the video.

Many of the guests had prepaid for their rooms and were reportedly not provided with a solution from Marriott or Sonder when asked for a refund or to be moved to other accommodations at the same price.

Ejected guests offered only loyalty points as compensation

While many guests complained of not getting refunds, Gary Leff of View from the Wing did indicate that some people were being offered loyalty points, but not an impressive number, and only if they asked.

As Leff wrote, “There hasn’t been a lot of assistance from Marriott so far on this, but reader Andrew shares that he complained about a future reservation that was cancelled and was given 40,000 points.”

More Travel:

The reader in question had a Paris reservation over Christmas and requested that he be provided with the Marriott loyalty points that he would have earned on the stay.

While a supervisor indicated that awarding the points from the trip was not possible, he was given 40,000 loyalty points as a “goodwill” gesture.

What should you do if your hotel reservation was canceled?

Unfortunately, all evidence points to the fact that stranded guests aren’t going to get much help. However, guests who ended up in this bad situation may potentially be able to at least get loyalty points if they ask.

Of course, that’s probably small comfort to those whose trips were ruined.

As Leff said in the View from the Wing article, “It seems to me that guests who were evicted from their confirmed Marriott reservations are far more disserviced and should receive greater compensation, but 40,000 points approaches what customer service can generally award.”