Sonder The Nash Apartments Midtown East — Hotel in New York

The place was perfectly decent and would have been fine if it was what I was expecting, but it wasn't nearly as nice as it looked in the pictures and because we had picked it because we wanted to stay somewhere nice on our vacation we were disappointed, so we ended up checking out after just one night and booking a different AirBnb for the remainder of our trip.

There wasn't anything specifically wrong with the place, but it just felt like a builder grade apartment that had been painted and redecorated without replacing the worn out parts. The decor was nice but the attention to detail when it comes to quality was lacking. It's like it was decorated just to look good in photos. And the floor was very stained and scuffed and made the whole place feel worse even though I do believe it was clean. (See photos.)

I will say the bed was pretty comfortable (firm memory foam) but it was small (a Queen). The couch wasn't great though.

If we had been only staying for a night or two, or had planned to be out all day each day and only there to sleep, we might have stayed, but since we sometimes spend evenings in and come back to the apartment to rest in the afternoons between activities we wanted somewhere that felt a little nicer.

Another thing I wasn't happy about was that we requested early check in and our request was still pending at our check in time. We did get to check in at 3 instead of 4, which I paid an extra $25 extra for, but instead of letting us into our place one hour earlier, they gave us access to a different room for one hour, then we would have had to move to our regular room at 4. We didn't do that and had I known that was how it worked I would not have paid for it.

I was also not happy that there were no Sonder staff on location. I was under the impression that it was a boutique hotel, but it was really more like an AirBnb. The only way to communicate with any Sonder staff is through written electronic communication. There's no one you can talk to on the phone or in person who is able to help you with the details of your booking.

The building staff were nice and were very prompt when we needed help getting the window AC unit to work (the breaker was switched off) but at one point when I tried to chat with Sonder customer service through the app they told me someone would get back with me to answer my question but no one ever did.

Finally, when we told them we checked out 3 days early they were completely unwilling to offer even a partial refund. I understand I was asking for an exception to their policy, but they were just like "Sorry you didn't enjoy your stay but we can't offer a refund."

There are lots of lodging options in NYC, and for this price range I would pick...

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this property.

One bedrooms are alcove studios with a “sliding” wall that doesn’t work. That’s simply misleading false advertisement.

Cleanliness is mediocre to say the least. I was promised a “deep cleaning” after complaining but never received that service. First, an agent said she coordinated it to a set time but that wasn’t true. Later, they offered the service again over email but chats/calls with multiple agents resulted in no cleaning action.

One night my bathroom flooded with toilet water that I had to clean myself as there’s no onsite staff. I was promised that maintenance will come take a look first thing in the morning. They did not. Only after another call they send someone who said that there’s no leak and left the dirty towels that soaked up the toilet water on the floor. The best part? I was told by management that they’ve tried to fix the issue “a few days ago” and that I didn’t provide access. Interesting, as the problem was reported 24 hrs earlier and that no one asked me for access until I called again.

Sonder compensated me for about 33% of the original amount charged. Personally, I didn’t find that as satisfactory compensation especially as more issue kept occurring.

Oh, and did I mention the saucy agent that left the chat mid-conversation?

Compensation or not, this was a horrible experience that I would strongly urge...

This Sonder property is beautiful and I've been to 5 of their properties now! We love Sonder!! Very affordable and great location! About an 8-10 walk to Grand Central train station. A little further about a 20-30 min walk to Time Square, Bryant Park, NYCity Public Library and Central Park! Lots of eateries, coffee shops and corner stores nearby! Explore the side and back streets to find the best places! We recommend Rock'y pizza, One Two Thai and Baya Bar!!

For the in room experience: We do wish that they would just put a stack of towels in the room so we can use as many as we need as opposed to us having to request towels multiple times and they won't always show up, very frustrating. Also, they really need a longer shower liner. If you aren't careful, you could get water all over the floor. There was no in shower storage for the soaps you bring. You do have to pay for a cleaning service, which we didn't use because we swept and cleaned ourselves daily. Overall we love the simplistic nature of Sonder properties and with a few tweaks, could be a perfect experience. Nothing is perfect though, right? There is enough closet space and kitchen storage, also, a big refrigerator! Friendly staff downstairs but they do not work for Sonder. People also live in this particular property of theirs. Have a great NYC experience with this...