Sonder at Village 21

The apartment itself felt much like the other Sonder places I’ve stayed, with the essentials and a generally nice setup. The pool was the letdown: it’s very shallow and closes at dusk, so there’s no chance for a late soak after a long day. Sonder is a good choice when you want a home-like place to stay.

I’d stayed with Sonder four or five times before, so I booked a prepaid room in May for Vanderbilt Parents Weekend in late September. While I was on the plane to Nashville, I got an email saying the reservation had been canceled, with no explanation. By then, it was one of the busiest weekends in town, rooms were hard to find, and prices had shot up. I was left with extra expense and a lot of frustration. It took three phone calls, messages through the Sonder app, and emails to several addresses at Sonder and Marriott to get a reply, which came four days later. They offered only a refund and made no effort to help me find somewhere else to stay. I’d also had quality problems on previous stays, including broken beds, cleanliness issues, and mold in bathrooms. I kept booking because I hoped the association with Marriott would improve things. This experience didn’t give me any reason to think it had. A prepaid, nonrefundable booking with Sonder apparently doesn’t guarantee you’ll have a room when you arrive. Communication, service, and accountability were all unacceptable. I’ll seriously reconsider booking with them again.

The location worked well for Vanderbilt and Belmont, and the unit itself was nice and updated. Still, the rest of the stay was so disappointing that we won’t return. We had a parking lot view, with the backs of restaurants and dumpsters, and two bright business spotlights shone through the vertical blinds all night. There was also an annoying constant hum, almost like a jet engine. I’m not sure whether it came from behind the restaurant or the building. We could hear a neighbor’s alarm clock going off every morning for a long time, too. The room and building felt dirty. The shower floor was moldy, so we bought bleach cleaner at a store before we could shower. The shower had hair products but no body wash, and the wrapped sink soap had no dish, so it stayed wet on the counter. When I closed the pocket door, I saw grimy handprints on it. There were stains on the rug, and the bathroom walls had some strange slimy brown stuff on them. The hall carpets had lots of bad stains, and I felt like I was in a frat house. There weren’t even basic bottles of water. The TV only worked if you brought your own streaming device, which was really frustrating. Getting around also took too much effort. The parking, elevator, and room each used codes, and we had to keep pulling up the elevator code at every turn. I’m sure it’s for safety, but it was annoying. Adding parking after I’d already booked was confusing, too. I’m not a millennial, so I did have a learning curve with the communication. Updates came by text, but others appeared only in the app or email, which I don’t check constantly. Our room number had changed, but no text told us, so we didn’t know when we arrived. I had to call customer service many times during booking and verification, and I’m reluctant to book with Sonder again. I’ll own that I didn’t check the email and app consistently, but the whole process felt frustrating from the start. Sonder in London has always given us excellent service, which made this even more disappointing.

We’ve stayed at Village for three years now and absolutely love it. The rooms are roomy and clean, and both check-in and check-out are simple. There are plenty of shops and restaurants nearby, too. My one gripe this year was the pool chairs. The bars made them really uncomfortable to sit or lie on, so I’d suggest upgrading them. I also miss the white lounge chairs in the pool and hope they’ll be back on our next visit. Otherwise, I definitely recommend this spot!