Wellborn Hotel Downtown, Sonder — Hotel in Orlando

Good Afternoon,

Staff were all professional and personable and We Thank Them All & also commendations to all assisting us via your Sonder App. Top notch friendly and kind service which was Greatly appreciated. The issues we experienced were not due to them!

The room I reserved online was not the room I was given. The pictures of my reservation were for room 301, I was given room 300. I have stayed at all the properties here over the past 20 years and chose my room purposely, thus was disappointed when I was given a different room.

Access code did not work upon arrival. Digital key worked, however we were a party of two and required both of us to have separate, individual entry. Lovely, pleasant women, both on the Sonder site and at the Normant Perry Inn were able to assist and we were provided with a fob to be used by my friend. Unfortunately, on the second day my digital key no longer worked, nor did access code, I was supplied with a new access code which did work, but digital key did not.

There is a box lock of some type outside the back kitchen door which did nothing, access code or digital key would not unlock the door from the outside and when we requested a key or code for access to the back door we were told none was available. I believe we should have been able to luck and unlock both doors in our unit.

I requested ice cube trays as was told ice was no longer available at Sonder. Ice cube trays were in the unit , however there was NO freezer Or refrigerator. There were 2 wine coolers and the function buttons on both did not work.

There were no forks in the room or at Sonder Wellborn at all. When we asked, we were told they were all stolen

Bathroom is different and nice, great shower, However I had brought Bath Products to be used in the tub of the unit I had rented, but was not given. The drain in the bathroom needs maintenance, EXTREMELY slow draining.

The noise from the Bar was Very disturbing from unit 300 and due to this I would not rent that room ever again. I do understand the noise was addressed on your website and earplugs were provided, BUT I believe the room I wanted, reserved and paid for which was 301 would have been quieter, as sofa bed is lake side and the BEDROOM was separated by walls and a Door. Unit 300 is open floor plan, no doors, no separate bedroom and No tub. Bathroom is in middle of the unit with frosted glass walls on 2 sides, very strange & no bathroom fan, so if you go, everybody knows

Parking is a problem, I believe registered guests should be assigned a parking spot and not have to park and walk because bar patrons take all the spaces. I am a reviewer on a few social media sites and more. Because I have always enjoyed my stays at The Historic Inn at Lake Lucerne, prior to posting my reviews I provided Sonder with an opportunity to respond. They did reply and told me $100.oo credit would be applied to my NEXT stay. That is a nice gesture, but what would have been better is a refund of the stay I just had as we may never be able/willing to use a credit, which is not noted on...

I like the concept of this place. It's historically interesting. I was excited to try the food at the restaurant and hang out in the garden. However, while our first two nights were quiet, our third and fourth came with some issues. There's extremely limited parking which I was aware of...but the listing made it clear there were designated spaces for hotel guests...and indeed the spaces are labeled and reserved for "registered hotel guests only". There's parking on the perimeter streets and in a business's garage next door...but the caveat in the garage is that vehicles must be removed by 5am. So between 6pm and 5am Wellborn guests can park there. Which makes total sense for the restaurant guests since they will be leaving by 5am for certain if not much earlier. But after a day at the beach and with all our beach gear in tow, we arrived back to find all the designated hotel spots taken by cars that were clearly not hotel guests because we were given a car badge to hang and told if we DID NOT have this in our car we would be towed. The signs threatening this are everywhere. So instead of contacting Sonder, I went to the management at the Wellborn restaurant thinking it would be better to inform him so their guests could move and not be towed. I was not only informed rudely that the restaurant is not affiliated with Sonder, but that those spots are for restaurant guests too. And that I could park in the garage...walk our stuff from the garage to our room AND get up by 5am to move the car so WE don't get towed. What a great way to spend your vacation, right? If I had known this was the policy (which I verified it is), I would have chosen elsewhere. There's also no one to assist you with essential items. So you rummage around in the front desk cabinets to get what you need which is awkward. And the room is really cool...historically, it's very clean, and the water pressure is great. However, there are no hooks or towel racks anywhere to hang up wet towels to dry, there's no counter space for you to dry your hair or apply makeup. Plug ins are hidden behind furniture and hard to access. And I'm bummed that the Wellborn management is dismissive, rude, and apathetic to hotel guests. I missed out on an experience I was looking forward to because of his attitude. Lastly...I wondered why there were complimentary earplugs in the room...that's going to be because the restaurant and it's dishwasher room, which is a converted Sonder room RIGHT outside your window where you will hear clattering dishes and falling objects until the wee hours of the morning. The sound machine playing waves in the room was a nice touch though. This place has potential but it's not...

Great to visit to drink, horrible to stay overnight as a "guest"

I was greatly looking forward to my stay at the Wellborn (a Sonder property), given that a close friend of mine was getting married there. Unfortunately, I ran into issues with Sonder from the moment I booked the reservation. Given that everything is completed electronically (due to having nobody in-person to handle check-in, cancellations, amenities, etc.), I was forced to scan over my driver's license and submit it electronically to whoever; I was not comfortable with this, and had I known this was how I had to reserve the room, I wouldn't have. They make you do this after you have already submitted the payment. Aside from that, I then received an incredibly rude, antagonistic and insensitive email inquiring as to the reason of my stay from someone in their "customer service" department. I had a local address and phone number, so they said that I could not move forward with my reservation if I did not disclose the reason for my stay. NEVER in all my times of booking hotel rooms have I ever had to EXPLAIN myself to someone as to why I decided to book a hotel room at their facility. Reluctantly, I provided an explanation: not wanting to have to worry about driving since my friends were getting married there that weekend, and because the festivities would likely carry later into the night (keep in mind their courtyard bar/indoor bar are open until 2am)... the hotel itself is naturally very loud. I was then the recipient of an EVEN RUDER email threatening me of the hotel's "No tolerance policy on noise and partying" where they then threatened again that they had the right to hold onto my deposit and not allow me to stay for the night if I were "too loud". I would like to state for the record that this was incredibly assuming of how I conduct myself, as I am not the "party type". It is truly a shame that the Sonder group is so poor with their management (I also could not talk to one person consistently, I received an email from someone different every time). The hotel itself was gorgeous and I cannot speak highly enough of the staff working the actual wedding event. They were kind, courteous and attentive to the group's every need. The HORRID customer service from the Sonder management group, is the reason I will never stay at another Sonder property and would usher everyone else that is reading this the...