Hotel cancelled non refundable stay, refusing to tell me if I’m eligible for a refund

[SomethingInTheAirToday]

I had a Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy hotel room booked for a trip next year. Out of the blue yesterday I got an email to say it had been cancelled by Marriott Bonvoy as I booked through them and they could not honour the booking.

They didn’t mention a refund in the email, I’ve DMed them on Twitter and they’ve said that if I’m eligible for a refund they’ll be processing it. But they won’t tell me if I am, or how long it will take.

im mainly posting for traffic to be honest, what do I do? I have travel insurance through my bank so I’m guessing that if they don’t refund me I claim on that? But shouldn’t they be refunding me as they’re the ones cancelling?

ugh

Any help? I’ve never had this happen to me before and I can’t afford to lose the cost of this cancelled room, and pay for a new one.

I can’t imagine they won’t refund. You booked it directly and they have cancelled.

How did you pay for it? It might be easiest to claim through your credit / debit card

Paid by debit card. Stupid I know but I’ve never had this happen and I assumed because it’s a big hotel chain it would’ve been fine!

www.reuters.com/business/marriott-terminates-licensing-agreement-with-lodging-rentals-company-sonder-2025-11-09/

Yeah I’m aware of this and think in the grand scheme of things I’ve probably dodged a bullet but Marriott and Sonder aren’t being very helpful in terms of a refund! Their social media channels are just bouncing back with an automated message that says if I’m eligible I’ll be refunded, but it doesn’t say what eligibility is.

Have they even taken the money?

I would assume that since they have cancelled, you will be refunded. The non refundable aspect of bookings generally means they won’t refund you if you cancel.

Yes, it was a non refundable room so you paid on booking. It was a decent deal (now it looks like it was too good to be true), and non refundable.

They may well be manually processing all bookings and as yours isn't until next year will be down the list. I would give it another couple of weeks. I can't see how you wouldn't be eligible for a refund if you booked direct. I suspect that the ones that may not be, or there is a dispute over who is to refund, are booked through a third party.

You’ll get a refund but it’ll probably be 5 working days, that’s the standard time usually. I feel your pain, I hate stuff like this and always use my credit card as you get more support/insurance than with debit cards.

If its a UK holiday, it generally needs to be +2 nights to make an insurance claim. This would be my last port of call as you'll pay an excess.

If you paid with a Visa debit card, you can put a chargeback through via your bank. That will most likely be successful as you have evidence they cancelled it (and evidence you've chased them via SM - keep a record of these posts). Just because its non refundable, it doesn't mean they can cancel without giving you a refund.

I think the most likely outcome will be that youll receive a refund. How much is it?

Non-refundable means they don't refund if you cancel - they haven't breached the contract as the room was available but you chose not to use it so they don't have to repay you. If they cancel they have to refund the money because they haven't fulfilled their side of the contract.

It doesn’t need to be 2 nights. I got all my money back for a one night stay in Glasgow through my RBS silver account insurance.

It’s European thankfully, and three nights.

it was £400 all in. Not a lot for a lot of people I’m sure, but for me it is, and I then have another £475 on top to book another place. Flights etc., are already paid for and tickets for events while I’m there so cancelling isn’t an option

It should be ok from a corporation of that size.

As an aside, I used to be in a finance-related occupation and was told long ago by someone in the banking industry to never ever use a debit card, because it’s a direct pipeline to one’s cash.

With a credit card, it’s the lender’s money at risk so they will be more proactive in dealing with fraud and situations like this.

I used a credit card for absolutely everything and just pay it off each month.

This isn’t a refund like if you’d cancelled - it’s a repayment for goods and services not received. Of course they ought to return your money! It sounds like they may have quite a lot of bookings to deal with rather than just you so it could take a while I guess

Had something similar happen to us in 2024. Booked direct with Marriott though. Hotel was converted to asylum accommodation so they cancelled the non-refundable room.
Received a full refund automatically.

All I'd say is try not to worry that it wasn't paid by credit card, this is exactly the scenario where a Visa dispute will help you (I work in this area). I'm confident you'll receive a refund via the company though.

I'm in the same boat. I spoke to them yesterday and I wanted to rebook so they passed me to a supervisor where I sat on hold for 3 and a bit hours and didn't get to speak to them as I had to go to bed. They did say initially refunds are being processed and to allow up to 30 days.

Of course they will refund you OP. Just wait

@SomethingInTheAirToday - the “non-refundable” condition applies if you cancel. If, like here, the provider cancels for a reason unrelated to you then they must refund the money because you’ve paid for something that they are not going to provide.

If they’ve cancelled you’ll get a refund.

It’ll take time to process (usually 3-5 working days) but why do you think you won’t be eligible because they cancelled?

No refundable means you don’t get a refund if you cancel.

Their wording is just a standard response to avoid promising refunds to propel who aren’t entitled.

Because I keep asking for them to confirm it and they’re just coming back with the standard “if you’re eligible you’ll get it”, no word on when or how to find out whether you’re eligible.

30 days 🤯