Will negative chatter in user evaluates about Sonder, the hotel and short-term rental business, have any effect on its anticipated public market debut in 2021 through an unique purpose acquisition company merger?
We took a look at Trustpilot’s user review ratings and review ratings for Sonder and Vacasa, the property management company that is also slated to go public this year, to assess visitor belief and remain quality. Trustpilot, which gathers user evaluations in categories varying from travel to insurance coverage, is one of the couple of evaluation websites covering travel to produce a general business rating and not one just for specific hotels or short-term leasings, as Tripadvisor does.
Trustpilot User Review Data for Sonder and Vacasa
| Company | Variety of Evaluations | Profile Status | Trustpilot Classification | Ratings | Evaluation Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AvantStay | 247 | Declared | Trip Rental | Outstanding | 4.5 |
| Vacasa | 5,343 | Declared | Vacation Rental | Great | 4 |
| Vrbo | 11,3212 | Claimed | Travel bureau | Average | 3.4 |
| Sonder | 120 | Unclaimed | N/A | Bad | 1.5 |
| Airbnb | 8,119 | Declared | Trip Rental | Bad | 1.4 |
| Booking.com | 27,607 | Claimed | Travel Aggregator | Bad | 1.4 |
In the chart, you can see that Trustpilot ranked Sonder as “bad” with simply a 1.5 out of 5 evaluation score. The caution is that there were only 120 user reviews of Sonder, and the company hasn’t “claimed” its profile. Business such as Vacasa, which generated a “fantastic” rating with a review score of 4, may have a benefit because when they declare their Trustpilot profiles they can obtain evaluations from guests as opposed to simply attracting them naturally, as held true with Sonder. Trustscores, said representative Dave Robertson, take into consideration evaluation frequency, when these critiques were written, and a Bayesian average.
Some 120 evaluations for Sonder on Trustpilot– Vacasa attracted 5,343 reviews– isn’t sufficient to draw definitive conclusions about guest belief, however there has been sufficient negative discussion about the quality of Sonder stays, as the Wall Street Journal explained, to take a more detailed look.
In an evaluation on Trustpilot about a Sonder stay in Dallas, the visitor complained about getting here to find the air-conditioning not working, an unmade bed, and “garbage was still in the wastebasket and towels were left all over the restroom.”
Another customer revealed anger about a filthy space.
Similar to Tripadvisor, Trustpilot has couple of ways to determine whether the evaluation writer actually stayed at the home, but Robertson said the company has tech tools and teams operating in the background to guarantee the review is the genuine deal.
We also arbitrarily looked at reviews of three Sonder homes on Tripadvisor that scored 3.0, 4.0 and 4.5 out of 5. The evaluation headlines for the Sonder I V Palm Springs in California varied from “Dirty, hotel not finished, no personnel” to “Perfect Trip Spot.” Sonder Chambers in New York City had evaluations promoting it for “Friendly service and fantastic place,” in addition to “Minimalist, hassle-free, economical.”
On Airbnb we browsed evaluations for three Sonder residential or commercial properties at random with ratings of 4.51, 4.8 and 4.93 that characterized a Sonder room in a boutique hotel in South Florida as an “incredible place, really private and mellow,” for example.
For its part, Sonder informed Skift that “tourist evaluations are necessary feedback tools for Sonder, and specified that on the three online travel bureau that generate the majority of Sonder’s online travel bureau reservations, the typical ranking score on its listings are 4.36 out of 5.
Sonder said that it prioritizes responding to negative evaluations composed on its most-important online travel bureau suppliers and has actually groups “committed to doing something about it when required to remedy and solve an issue for our visitors.”
About its 1.5 score on Trustpilot, Sonder kept in mind that it just received 120 reviews there “compared to more than 73,000 across a few of the significant OTAs (online travel agencies),” including that other hospitality business received similar 1.5 ratings. In the Trustpilot chart in this story, you can see that Airbnb and Booking.com each produced 1.4 rankings while AvantStay and Vacasa drew 4.5 and 4.0, respectively.
In their possible SPAC debuts, Vacasa is slated to have the larger one at a $4.5 billion evaluation while Sonder goes for $2.2 billion– however none of this is specific.
On Trustpilot, Vacasa was the topic of mixed reviews. A review of a Vacasa-managed residential or commercial property in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina identified the residential or commercial property as nice however needing additional tender loving care.
.”We had to clean the pans prior to we might prepare in them, the fridge dripped water on the inside, the range was outdated,” the guest wrote. “The location might have been cleaned up more vigilantly, that is not a reflection on the owners is more on the cleaning team.”
Vacasa reacted to that evaluation, writing “We have followed up with the local residential or commercial property caretaker regarding your experience. We intend to have the opportunity to better serve you in the future!”
An evaluation on Trustpilot about a Vacasa property in Oregon complained about the wi-fi, adding “Make certain to bring some excellent pans if you are planning to cook. Because great lord the choices are bad.” Vacasa reacted that wi-fi was not featured at the residential or commercial property, although it has cable TV, and “we will ask with the owner about any updates for brand-new cookware.”
We randomly read Vacasa property reviews on Tripadvisor with scores consisting of 3.0, 3.5 and 4.0 out of 5. A current evaluation on Triopadvisor of The Patricia Grand, Oceana by Vacasa in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina urged “this location needs a deep cleansing.”
We saw evaluations of three Vacasa properties on Airbnb that varied from 4.11 to 4.94 out of 5.
Allison Lowrie, Vacasa’s chief marketing officer, stated “evaluations represent one crucial signal, and we take them seriously to recognize ways to improve our organization or to understand when we’re running at desired levels.”
Asked whether user evaluates bear on investors’ decisions, Lowrie said: “We can’t talk to particular investor inspirations, but as financiers are also consumers, it would make sense that reviews can provide them with a crucial data point into how a company approaches its customers, product development and general brand name.”
Homeaway co-founder Carl Shepherd stated financiers take a company’s user evaluates into account however they do so in a more comprehensive context that includes “business age and other metrics of customer engagement.”
Said Shepherd: “But in the end evaluates or lack thereof will be secondary to more fact-based indications of customer engagement– repeat visits, and client churn will provide a financier much more insight into the company’s potential than the evaluation count.”