[tptacek]

Isn't this really a kind of regulatory arbitrage? Hotels totally could buy up condominiums all over cities and then manage them centrally, but they're not allowed to do that. Airbnb gets away with it by distributing the liability and claiming plausible deniability; they're the Napster of hotel zoning.

Isn't Sonder just trying to slip in under the radar, the confusing ostensible aegis of people renting out their rooms temporarily, to do what Marriott can't do?

[theologic]

That's another angle I wasn't thinking of.

I'm no expert, but the Blackstone group and some REITS already focus single houses and renting them out. The REIT market is well understood, thus having a easy line of investors. If this is simply a way of getting past local rulings, I would guess that somebody in the aforementioned rental market buying single homes might explore short term hotel type operations instead, although it is unclear to me the leap from longer term rentals to overnight stays.