Sonder Onterie Apartments, Magnificent Mile — Local services in Chicago

My poor review is solely based on the customer service I experienced with Sonder. Right after booking my stay through the Marriott Bonvoy app I downloaded the Sonder app to complete my verification. For some reason it was not working so I started the process on my laptop and was able to transfer the session to my phone to complete this. Once completed, I reviewed the details of my stay and noticed that there was an option to edit check in and check out times. All of the early check in times came at a cost so I opted not to do this however, as a platinum member, I generally like a late check out. There were a couple of late check out options offered free of charge so I selected and was approved for 2pm (the latest time available). I received a confirmation email right away and thought I was all set.

I received my access code a couple of days later (24 hours prior to check in) and on the day I was supposed to check in I was going over the details again and noticed that my check out time was listed at 11am so I contacted Sonders chat team and explained my concerns about the time changing.

The chat team was extremely slow and honestly unhelpful. They started off asking for my preferred check out time and I said 4pm “IF” it was available (I had a late departure from Chicago and this check out time is typically offered to platinum status members). The response I received was “The 4:00PM late check-out time is always based on the availability and not a guarantee. Let me check the availability here” so I responded with “I understand”. I honestly thought it was odd that this had to be explained when the representative asked for my preferred time and I responded with my preference. After waiting over 10 minutes they came back and advised that only 1pm was available. I explained to the chat agent again that I was already approved for a 2pm check out and then they said it was already added to my reservation. The app did not update the check out time so I asked about this and they said “Just disregard that. 2:00PM late check-out is added to your reservation with free of charge”. I told them I understood why the reviewers were so poor for Sonder properties and I would be providing feedback to Marriot. The response I received (which felt very unnecessary) was “Alright, but I already provided to you all the information you need for late check-out. We provided the late check-out for free.” I shared some info with them about the benefits for Platinum members (ex. the 4pm check out) and that was roughly the end of the chat. Afterwards, I called Marriot to share feedback.

Fast forward to the day of my check out. I was in my room and received a knock from hosuekeeping at 11:04am and I explained to her that I had a late check out. She made a face and showed me her phone showing that I was supposed to check out at 11 and when I tried to show her my confirmation email and the chat she just said it’s okay and walked away while I was trying to show it to her. At 11:15 a man knocked on my door (didn’t announce what area he worked in) and I explained the same thing to him and he said he would work on the other rooms and come back. A whole 3 minutes later the same man comes back and says that the late check out is not in their system and said they would need to reach out to customer service. He then asked me to prove that I had a late check out which felt a bit inappropriate. He took a photo of the chat and whilst doing this, the chat person he was communicating with confirmed my late check out. He said they have issues with Sonder communicating information with them.

I know this Sonder partnership with Marriot is “newish” being just under a year old but they really need to work on improving this entire process. The Sonder app and the Marriot app do not really communicate well with one another and the Sonder chat customer service is horrendous — I tried reaching out to them after housekeeping came and it took over 10 minutes to get a live person and after I responded they stopped...

If you come across Sonder Apartments – Chicago Magnificent Mile, don’t just walk — run in the opposite direction. We stayed here in March and had an extremely disappointing experience. The property is in poor condition: the curtains were broken, the in-unit washing machine wasn’t working, and there was relentless noise every single day from ongoing parking construction, waking us up early throughout our entire stay. Even worse, the elevator was out of service on multiple occasions, forcing us to carry our children and strollers up and down eight flights of stairs numerous times. The management was unresponsive and unhelpful. To make matters worse, they deleted our honest review from the official Sonder website — meaning future guests won’t see the full reality of what to expect. We’ve stayed at many Sonder properties before and had great experiences — but this location was shockingly bad. I strongly recommend choosing another Sonder location or a different accommodation altogether if you're...

Extremely Disappointing Stay – Strong Sewage Odor and Poor Customer Support

We had a terrible experience at The Sonder in Chicago. The unit smelled strongly of raw sewage from the moment we arrived. When we contacted management, they admitted there was a problem but said they were fully booked and couldn’t move us to another room. Their only solution was to run the washing machine several times, which obviously didn’t help.

They offered to relocate us to a different property 2.5 miles away — not a workable option, as we specifically chose this location for its close proximity to my partner’s conference. We asked for a refund due to the unacceptable conditions, and instead were given only a $135 credit for a five-night stay.

The odor persisted throughout the stay, and the lack of accountability made the situation even worse. Very poor customer service, and the quality of the unit did not match expectations. We won’t be staying with Sonder again and wouldn’t recommend this...