- TravelAI acquired the Sonder brand.
- It relaunched Sonder.com.
- The platform curates urban stays from partners.
TRAVELAI ACQUIRED THE Sonder brand, including the Sonder word mark, more than 50 trademark registrations and more than 70 domain names. It also relaunched Sonder.com as a guide to urban stays and its consumer brand.
The deal covers only the brand and intellectual property, excluding Sonder's operating business, properties, leases, inventory and staff, TravelAI said in a statement. The platform uses its travel memory infrastructure to curate accommodations from distribution partners rather than operate hotels.
TravelAI is the operating name of UpNext Ventures Inc. and its subsidiaries.
“Sonder earned something rare: a name people remember and a standard of taste they trusted,” said John Lyotier, TravelAI co-founder and CEO. “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. Where the old Sonder’s technology once lived in the lock on the door, it now lives in discovery, memory, and AI-enabled personalization.”
The acquisition follows the collapse of Sonder's Canadian business after Marriott International ended its partnership with the company in November 2025. Sonder Canada and Hospitalité Sonder Canada later filed for bankruptcy and UpNext Ventures acquired the trademark and domain portfolio through the court-supervised process.
Ernst & Young, acting as trustee, determined the Canadian entities held rights to the assets sold. The Superior Court of Québec approved the sale on July 6 and the transaction closed on July 13.
The new Sonder.com is a guide to urban stays rather than a hotel operator, TravelAI said. The platform features apartment-style homes, boutique hotels and urban stays from distribution partners in cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Dubai.
The company describes itself as the "Travel Memory Company" and said its technology remembers travellers' preferences to improve trip recommendations. It said the Sonder name aligns with its strategy for AI-driven travel discovery.
The acquisition returns the Sonder brand to Canadian ownership, TravelAI said. It said UpNext Ventures was formed after acquiring the assets of Left Technologies in 2021 following the company's bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lyotier said the company launched in spring 2021 after the founding team pooled resources to buy back its previous business.
“Two months after we restarted, the old Sonder announced its intention to go public at a $2.2 billion enterprise value,” he said. “Ever since, we have operated with speed and scale, always profitably, and never raising investment dollars. It is a great outcome and a testament to the hard work the team has done to build the technology and platform to have the small company resurrect a former industry giant.”
“Our intent is to treat the brand with the respect it deserves: keeping what made it Sonder, and giving it a future,” Lyotier said. “This is a new chapter, written with care for the one that came before.”
