Sonder Furthers Corp. Travel Plans Amid Restructure

Short-term accommodation provider Sonder Holdings in the second quarter continued to grow its corporate travel offering rapidly, boosting active accounts to 400 from 250 in the first quarter, the company announced late Wednesday.

“While we’re still in the early stages of our corporate travel offering, we’ve continued to gain traction each quarter since its launch and we’re incredibly excited about this as an opportunity to drive incremental” revenue per available room, Sonder co-founder and CEO Francis Davidson said during a Wednesday conference call with analysts.

The company’s corporate travel push is one of a handful of measures it is taking to boost occupancy and RevPAR as it pushes forward with a restructuring plan and development strategy intended to increase its cash flow.

Sonder’s second-quarter occupancy rate was 82 percent, up from 68 percent one year prior, and its RevPAR increased 67 percent year over year to $167. Sonder’s second-quarter average daily rate was $203, up from $147 in the second quarter of 2021.

Sonder’s executives suggested that the “robust” demand of Q2 didn’t preclude further strengthening. Davidson said he expected additional corporate demand growth into 2023, and Sonder president and CFO Sanjay Banker said overall recovery should continue.

“We are nowhere near full recovery to travel,” Banker said. “We do believe that looking into 2023, there’s a meaningful headroom from a market recovery standpoint even relative to Q2 2022.”

Sonder Q2 Performance

Sonder’s second-quarter revenue increased 157 percent year over year to $121.3 million. The company’s second-quarter net loss was $43.8 million, compared with a net loss of $73.9 million one year prior.

Sonder at the end of June had 8,400 live units in its portfolio, up from 7,700 at the end of the first quarter and up from 5,500 at the end of the second quarter of 2021. Including contracted units, its total portfolio declined to 18,700 units from 19,300 at the end of Q1. Part of the company’s revised development strategy, announced in June, was to limit growth to signings that involve what it calls “capital-light deals.” Sonder in a letter to shareholders said that it had “exited certain contracted units that did not align with the objectives of our Cash Flow Positive Plan.”

Chris Davis  www.businesstravelnews.com