Canada-based TravelAI has acquired the Sonder brand and relaunched Sonder.com.
The acquisition includes Sonder’s trademarks and domain names, not Sonder’s operating businesses, properties, leases, inventory or staff, TravelAI said in a release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In November 2025, Sonder’s parent company announced an immediate wind down of operations and then filed for Chapter 7 liquidation of its U.S. business. Sonder Canada and Hospitalité Sonder Canada also filed for bankruptcy under Canada’s Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
The news followed Marriott International’s announcement that it ended its licensing agreement with the short-term rental specialist due to a default on Sonder’s part.
TravelAI, the operating brand name of UpNext Ventures, built the new Sonder.com as a flagship consumer brand, launching it “as a curated guide to the world’s best urban stays.”
The new site features a range of homes, boutique hotels and urban stays from TravelAI’s distribution partners in New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, London, Barcelona, Dubai “and most of the world's major urban centers,” the company said.
“Sonder earned something rare: a name people remember and a standard of taste they trusted,” said John Lyotier, co-founder and CEO of TravelAI.
“We did not acquire a portfolio of buildings. We acquired the one brand in travel whose name already means what we are building with our memory infrastructure. Where the old Sonder's technology once lived in the lock on the door, it now lives in discovery, memory and AI-enabled personalization.”
Sonder and Marriott first announced a strategic agreement in August 2024, with plans to integrate Sonder's properties into Marriott's distribution channels and add booking capabilities under the Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy banner.
In its statement last November, Sonder cited “severe financial constraints” resulting from “prolonged challenges in the integration of the company's systems and booking arrangements with Marriott International.”
As Sonder was founded in Montreal in 2014, TravelAI said bringing it back under Canadian ownership is “a point of pride for the team.”
“Our intent is to treat the brand with the respect it deserves: keeping what made it Sonder and giving it a future. This is a new chapter, written with care for the one that came before,” Lyotier said.
In December, TravelAI acquired Owner Direct Vacation Rentals, including OwnerDirect.com. In March 2024, it also acquired the domain name for Casai, which ceased operations in 2023, and relaunched Casai.com as metasearch site for luxury rentals.
Lyotier discussed TravelAI’s goals and its buy-and-build strategy during a PhocusWire studio interview at The Phocuswright Conference 2025. Watch the full interview below.
CEO Spotlight: John Lyotier of TravelAI