:
Canada: Travel technology company TravelAI has acquired Sonder’s trademarks and domain portfolio and relaunched Sonder.com as a discovery and booking platform for boutique hotels and professionally managed urban accommodation.
The acquisition includes the Sonder word mark, more than 50 trademark registrations and over 70 domain names.
TravelAI has not acquired Sonder’s former operating business, properties, leases, accommodation inventory or employees. The company is also not affiliated with Sonder Holdings Inc.
The assets were acquired by TravelAI’s parent company, UpNext Ventures Inc., from the estates of Sonder Canada Inc. and Hospitalité Sonder Canada Inc. through their court-supervised bankruptcy proceedings.
The Superior Court of Québec approved the transaction on 6 July following a review by court-appointed trustee Ernst & Young Inc.
Sonder’s former parent company announced plans to wind down its operations in November 2025 after Marriott International terminated its licensing agreement with the accommodation provider.
TravelAI has now relaunched Sonder.com as a curated guide to apartment-style homes, boutique hotels and urban accommodation supplied by its distribution partners. It will not operate the properties featured on the platform.
The website currently features accommodation across destinations including New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, London, Barcelona and Dubai. TravelAI said listings will be selected according to factors including design, location and quality.
John Lyotier, co-founder and CEO of TravelAI, said: “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.”
The new platform will use TravelAI’s technology to support accommodation discovery and personalised recommendations. This includes Traveler.md, a digital memory file designed to retain travellers’ preferences and booking histories across different trips and brands.
Sonder joins a portfolio of travel brands acquired by TravelAI that also includes Casai, Smartours and OwnerDirect.
Lyotier added: “Our intent is to treat the brand with the respect it deserves, keeping what made it Sonder and giving it a future.”
Highlights
- TravelAI has acquired Sonder’s trademarks and domain names, including Sonder.com.
- The transaction does not include Sonder’s former properties, leases, inventory, workforce or operating business.
- Sonder.com has relaunched as an accommodation discovery and booking platform rather than a hotel operator.
- Inventory will come from TravelAI’s distribution partners and include professionally managed apartments, boutique hotels and urban stays.
- TravelAI plans to introduce further AI-enabled discovery and personalisation features.
