Sonder Duane Street

Great and friendly. There is not an ice machine available. I wanted to have ice for an injury I had but that wasn’t possible since there was and is no ice available for guests. That’s a bummer for me. Other than that, awesome. Nice comfy bed, interesting staff, super silent protection from the city sounds…making a good nights sleep possible.

I was thoroughly impressed by this Sonder’s exceptional location, impeccable service, and comfortable rooms. Situated in Tribeca, the hotel's prime location made it convenient for exploring the city's attractions. The staff's professionalism and attentiveness enhanced my experience, and the cozy and well-appointed rooms provided a comfortable retreat after a day of sightseeing.

The property has a modern and nice design. The room is in all respects faithful to the photographs on the website: not very large but well furnished and equipped with everything (there are also iron and board, and a large screen with all the main streaming services). I appreciated that there was parquet flooring in the room, definitely preferable to the unhygienic carpeting. The staff is friendly and helpful; the app useful and functional. Drinks always available to guests (water, tea, coffee, chocolate) and umbrellas in free use. I personally agree with the decision not to clean the room daily unless requested, so as to keep costs down and avoid wasting water and energy. The only negative thing I found was the somewhat noisy heating. Also, the shower (which was nice and large) was dripping slightly. I didn't think this was a big problem, however, and in fact I didn't even inform the help desk about it (maybe if I had reported it they would have fixed it).

As stated in many reviews, this is an apartment style accommodation rather than a true hotel. There is no breakfast, fresh coffee, daily housekeeping, 24hr attendant, etc. Other than that, the room and lobby were fine. It was safe and this location (Duane St) was wonderful for exploring Manhattan.

The room was clean, modern and very well located. The personel was very friendly and ready to help at any moment. We were very pleased with our stay.

Starting with the pros, the location was good and my 5h floor room gave me distance to the street level noise, so that I wasn’t bothered by it. The room was also a very generous size with a little sofa and desk and the bedding and mattress was clean. The cons started upon check-in. The online only checkin seems silly when there was two people at the front desk, so that you have to just stand in front of them for 10min and fill out all your details on your phone. I arrived 15min before the stated checkin time and therefore had to sit and wait in the lobby even though the room was ready, because they would otherwise charge for early checkin. It’s also worth noting that there is no staff in hotel past 8pm, which could unsettle some guests. The rest is down to the details. For a hotel that seems to have been renovated in the last few years, it already seemed quite tired and sloppily taken care of. There’s paint splotches on every single door handle, window and mirror frame and even on the curtain. There’s some lovely products in the shower, but all three bottle holders were broken which made it hard to actually use the pumps. The shower tiles seemed dirty and the grouting was already gross in some areas. There’s a little sign by the bedside table saying that “cities can be noisy so we left some earplugs for you”, but there were no earplugs to be found. Some of the furniture was already were worn out, which let down the otherwise simple and modern design that they’d initially gone for.

Sonder is located on a busy street and scruffy block of Tribeca but is walking distance to many great shops and restaurants. It has excellent subway access. In spite of the urban location, I think it is a safe neighborhood. My room was clean and street noise was very minimal (not an issue). The bed was new, firm and very comfortable. The front desk is manned during the day (until 10:30 pm). The young staff I interacted with were friendly and tried to be helpful. However, they seemed more like students manning the circulation desk at the university library than hotel professionals. The main downside for me was my room was only one floor above ground level. Floor to ceiling windows lined the walls and brought the urban street just too close - plus eliminated my privacy. So I kept the curtains drawn all the time, which made the small room feel even smaller. The AC in the room was blasting 24-7 and there was no individual room control. At 67 degrees, I was uncomfortably cold. The front desk adjusted it to 69 for me, but it soon went right back to 67. The hot water temperature in the shower was also too low for me. Despite these drawbacks, Sonder delivers decent value for its location. Although services at Sonder are kept pretty minimal, the friendly staff keeps the experience from feeling impersonal. It reminded me of a very nice European hostel.

Walls in hotel are way too thin. Was kept up with the neighbor throwing up. Could hear everything. Checked out 3 days earlier

A complicated digital check-in process. Nobody at the reception. Very small room on the 2nd floor right on the street. Pictures on website totally misleading very expensive for a miserable experience. Never again will I go to a Sonder hotel.