Sonder At Penny Lane

“Very good experience, with some room for improvement”

Stayed here for a long weekend and really enjoyed it. The location is really excellent, on the edge of the old town and near the metro and several bus lines. The rooms are stylishly decorated and nicely furnished - we especially liked the full-size washer/dryer and dishwasher, and the bed was very … more

Stayed here for a long weekend and really enjoyed it. The location is really excellent, on the edge of the old town and near the metro and several bus lines. The rooms are stylishly decorated and nicely furnished - we especially liked the full-size washer/dryer and dishwasher, and the bed was very comfortable. The living room and dining area were a nice size, with ample furniture to seat 2 or even 4 people, and we were given a 2 bedroom unit even though we booked a 1 bedroom. I was concerned that it would be noisy, but our unit was towards the back and on a high floor, and it was completely quiet. The concept of this chain seems to be that they take an apartment building, convert it to short-term rentals, and compete with AirBnB - there is no front desk and check-in is entirely automated (you get a code to access the front door and your room). In comparison to a 5-star AirBnB, our experience was a bit lacking: the kitchen was minimally equipped (no cutting board, no colander, etc), check-in instructions were not clear (e.g., to open the front door, you key in "#" first and then the code, rather than the more intuitive opposite order, and there was no sign to clarify this to arriving guests), and the staff is not as responsive as they should be. To the latter point, I texted them for more coffee filters and they said they'd be delivered within 24 hours - which would have been after I checked out (the filters did arrive later that day, but still, the service standard should not be 24 hr). And we met some people in the entryway who were distraught about not being able to get into their room, and no one was answering the number to reach that staff that was provided by a note in the elevator. There is just a lot of room for improvement in terms of communication with guests. Still, we did enjoy our stay - just be sure to download the app and make sure you can see your reservation in it BEFORE you arrive, as the app will have the access codes you'll need.

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“Just okay”

Good location abit hard to find and interior feels kind of cheap and plastic, abit cold and dry inside, could have better interior

“Average stay!”

Great location in the heart of old Montreal with short walks to Notre Dame and Montreal downtown. The apartment itself is beautiful but has few irritants. The beds make a creaking sound every time you move and we also had problem with the air conditioning in one of the rooms. I also think there … more

Great location in the heart of old Montreal with short walks to Notre Dame and Montreal downtown. The apartment itself is beautiful but has few irritants. The beds make a creaking sound every time you move and we also had problem with the air conditioning in one of the rooms. I also think there needs to be bit more focus on customer convenience. We were moving between hotels and, with lots of luggage, checked out at Noon at the previous hotel. But checkin time at the new place was 4pm and no place to store our luggage at Sonder. Our apartment was already ready and we could have been allowed in, but there is some incomprehensible rigidity around checkin times so late even when the rooms are ready. A gentleman, who might be the manager there, did help us with storage of couple handbags but we had to leave most of our stuff at the old hotel. With a little bit of flexibility, Sonder can positively add to customer convenience and experience.

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