• Marriott ended its partnership with Sonder, leaving guests with canceled reservations.
• Travelers face refund delays and confusion after Sonder’s abrupt shutdown and bankruptcy filing.
• An expert advises filing credit card chargebacks quickly to get refunds.

Marriott-Sonder guests are describing chaos, confusion, and out-of-pocket expenses after Sonder — a short-term rental company once billed as an Airbnb rival — abruptly shut down this week.

Sonder, which said it will file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after Marriott terminated its partnership on Sunday, had been operating thousands of apartment-style units around the world through Marriott’s Bonvoy platform.

The sudden breakup has left some guests with canceled reservations and uncertainty about when they’ll see their money again. On Tuesday, Marriott updated its FAQs to advise customers to contact their credit card companies for refunds.

Fabio Fernandes, head of communications at consumer watchdog Consumer Choice Center, told Business Insider that affected guests shouldn’t wait for the bankruptcy process to play out, but instead should file chargebacks.

“Consumers shouldn’t wait on a bankruptcy administrator to make them whole,” he said.

“If a stay was canceled or never delivered, the fastest, most reliable path is a credit-card dispute for ‘services not provided.’ Do it now, keep your paperwork, and escalate if your bank drags its feet,” Fernandes said.

In a US Chapter 7 liquidation, customers with prepaid stays become unsecured creditors near the back of the line, he said — meaning refunds through the courts could take years and may amount to little or nothing.

That’s why filing a chargeback quickly is critical, he said, adding that cardholders should send a written dispute within 60 days of their statement.

Banks are required to respond within 30 days and resolve the dispute within two billing cycles, or no later than 90 days, he said, adding that Visa and Mastercard generally allow disputes to be filed up to 120 days from the scheduled stay date.

Fernandes said travelers can also file a claim in the bankruptcy proceedings, but that process is “a slow, uncertain path.”

Booking through a major brand like Marriott doesn’t automatically guarantee reimbursement unless Marriott was the merchant of record— the company that actually processes the payment and appears on a customer’s credit card statement — which it says it was not in this case.

Neither Marriott nor Sonder immediately responded to BI’s requests for comments.

Key steps travelers should follow

Fernandes offered a simple playbook for avoiding future travel headaches:

• Always pay by credit card, and prefer to pay at check-in whenever possible.
• Know who the merchant of record is before booking, and only prepay if the discount is genuinely worth it.
• Travelers should also look for “supplier failure” coverage in their insurance,
• If the card issuer drags its feet, escalate complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or a financial ombudsman.

‘Several phone calls and strongly worded emails’

Some Sonder customers have had success in securing refunds.

38-year-old Janna Reeves from San Antonio said she booked her Orlando stay at Sonder Welborn in December 2024. She planned to meet a friend in Florida for the Vans Warped Tour and possibly visit Disney World.

Four days before her November 13 check-in, Reeves received two emails — one from Sonder saying it could “no longer honor” her reservation after its partnership with Marriott ended, and another from Marriott confirming the cancellation. BI has viewed these emails.

She said Marriott told her she would receive a refund but would need to find and pay for new accommodations herself.

“Even that call center seemed to not know anything about this cancellation between Marriott and Sonder,” Reeves said. “Their only solution to me was to proceed with booking elsewhere.”

Reeves said she ended up spending about $800 more on a last-minute hotel during Orlando’s peak tourist season.

After “several phone calls and strongly worded emails,” she said Marriott agreed to issue a refund and 80,000 Bonvoy points — roughly matching her extra costs.

“I had to push them to help me,” she said. “It was not given willingly.”

‘No real explanation, no real solution’

But others have been less fortunate at securing their refunds.

Diane Gendry, a 65-year-old press officer from France had a reservation at The Henry hotel in London canceled for November 19 after Marriott ended its partnership with Sonder.

She received an email from Marriott on November 11 confirming the cancellation, but it offered little clarity on when — or if — she would be refunded.

“They remained vague on the refund,” she said in an email to BI. “I am surprised Marriott didn’t offer the opportunity to stay for the same price in one of their hotels in London.”

She said she has yet to receive any refund. In the meantime, she found another hotel across the street and paid €265 ($307)— less than her original stay — but until the refund comes through, she’s effectively paid for both.

• MrBeast said last year he owned just over half of his $5 billion company.
• The YouTuber operates a variety of business lines, including a content studio and a chocolate brand.
• Beast Industries has been on a hiring spree, adding four new execs to boost content and brand deals.

YouTuber MrBeast said in a deposition last November that he owned “a little over half” of his company, which was valued at roughly $5 billion in its most recent funding round.

By that math, the value of his ownership stake would have topped $2.5 billion.

Beast Industries sought to raise up to an additional $200 million this year, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider, as an extension to its $300 million Series C round referenced in the deposition. This could have diluted MrBeast’s ownership stake.

With over 400 million subscribers, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is the top creator on YouTube. He has expanded well beyond the platform, building out a content studio, a chocolate-bar company called Feastables, the analytics firm Viewstats, and a variety of other ventures. Beast Industries has also explored launching other business lines, including a fintech brand and a wireless phone service.

Beast Industries pulled in over $400 million in revenue last year, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider. The company was not profitable last year, mainly because of high costs in its media segment. Donaldson said in his deposition that Viewstats and Lunchly did not generate much revenue as of November 2024.

Feastables, however, was profitable, Donaldson said in the 2024 deposition, which he attributed to the product’s quality.

“I just obsess over the product and make sure the product’s really high-quality,” he said in the deposition. “We’re launching in the right places, and we’re doing things that delight and make our customers happy.”

The MrBeast team, which comprises around 450 staff members, has been bolstering its leadership team recently, with a focus on sponsorships and unscripted content. Since late September, it has brought on four new executives from companies including TikTok, Snap, and NBCUniversal.

The company has also been on a cost-cutting push as it looks to stop losing money from its media business.

Donaldson addressed the need for profitability during his 2024 deposition, saying that in the long run, “you have to focus on profits or you don’t have a business.”

The MrBeast team did not respond to a request for comment.

• AT&T has experienced multiple data breaches in recent years, prompting a class-action lawsuit.
• The company agreed to pay affected AT&T customers $177 million as part of a settlement.
• The deadline to submit a claim and join the settlement is December 17.

If you were one of the tens of millions of AT&T customers whose personal data was leaked online in recent years, you could be eligible for up to $7,500 as part of a settlement.

The telecommunications company revealed in March 2024 that information belonging to millions of current and past customers had been leaked on the dark web. Four months later, AT&T said additional customer data had been illegally downloaded from a company workspace on a third-party cloud platform back in 2022.

Both incidents spurred lawsuits against AT&T, which has denied any wrongdoing.

Affected customers filed a consolidated class-action suit against the company in May. Two months later, AT&T agreed to establish two settlement funds totaling $177 million: a $149 million all-cash fund for customers affected by the first data breach and a $28 million all-cash payment for customers affected by the second data incident.

“While we deny the allegations in these lawsuits that we were responsible for these criminal acts, we have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation,” an AT&T spokesperson told Business Insider. “We remain committed to protecting our customers’ data and ensuring their continued trust in us.”

The deadline for eligible customers to submit a claim and receive settlement money is fast approaching. Here’s what affected AT&T customers need to know.

Who qualifies?

Kroll, a third party that manages class action settlements, said that eligible AT&T customers fall under two categories: AT&T 1 Settlement Class and AT&T 2 Settlement Class.

AT&T 1 Settlement Class refers to people living in the United States whose data — including names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, passcodes, billing account numbers, and Social Security numbers — were included in the first leak.

The AT&T 2 Settlement Class refers to any customers whose data was involved in the second leak, which could include information like phone numbers with which customers interacted and other data related to those interactions, such as the duration of calls or the number of times those numbers were contacted.

If your information was part of either breach, AT&T would have contacted you.

How much money could AT&T customers receive as part of the settlement?

Within the AT&T 1 Settlement Class, customers can submit a claim for a “Document Loss Cash Payment” of up to $5,000 for losses that happened in 2019 or later, “upon presentation of documentation that the losses are fairly traceable to the AT&T 1 Data Incident.”

They also qualify for a Tier 1 or Tier 2 cash payment, which is an alternative to the Document Loss Cash Payment and represents a pro rata share of the AT&T 1 Net Settlement Fund cash.

Under the AT&T 2 Settlement Class, customers are eligible for a Documented Loss Cash Payment of up to $2,500 for losses that happened on or after April 14, 2024. The Tier 3 cash payment is a pro rata share of the AT&T 2 Net Settlement Fund cash.

Kroll said some customers may be an “overlap settlement class member,” so they could walk away with a total of $7,500.

When is the deadline for submitting a claim?

Customers have until December 18 to submit a claim. Submitting a claim is the only way a settlement class member can receive a payment.

However, customers who want to opt out of the class member settlement benefits must do so by November 17. By opting out, customers retain the right to file other lawsuits relating to this case against AT&T in the future.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas will hold a final approval hearing for the settlement on January 15, 2026.

• Amazon said it will now block apps that have been identified as hosting pirated content, including illegal sports streams.
• It’s just one way the tech giant is stepping up its efforts to thwart piracy.
• Amazon is working with an anti-piracy alliance that helped take down Streameast, a site that hosted pirated sports streams.

Amazon is making it harder to use its Fire TV streaming sticks to watch pirated content, the latest blow to sports fans looking to access illicit livestreams.

Amazon is now blocking access to apps that have been identified as providing pirated content, including those downloaded outside the tech giant’s app store.

“Piracy is illegal, and we’ve always worked to block it from our Appstore,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “This builds on our ongoing efforts to support creators and protect customers, as piracy can also expose users to malware, viruses, and fraud.”

There are numerous videos and tutorials online that instruct users on how to “sideload” apps onto Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, which, while not illegal, can also be used to access apps that feature pirated content, including illegal sports streams. The latest edition of the streaming device, 4K Select, features a new operating system that only allows customers to download apps from the company’s app store. The crackdown will also apply to older devices by blocking third-party apps that have been found to host pirated content.

Amazon worked with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, which fights piracy on behalf of 50 media companies, including Disney, Paramount, Fox, Comcast, and others. Streamers like Amazon, Apple TV, and Netflix are also members. The Motion Picture Association, Hollywood’s powerful trade association, heads the alliance.

A game of whack-a-mole for pirated sports streams

Pirated content remains a significant issue worldwide, particularly for live sports, leading to an ongoing game of whack-a-mole for authorities and regulators.

As cord-cutting rises and cable TV declines, many sports fans have become adept at finding illicit workaround methods for accessing pirated livestreams of matches — including during carriage disputes, such as the ongoing standoff between Disney and YouTube TV.

Methods vary, but can include modifying the software on a streaming TV stick, like Amazon’s popular and inexpensive Fire TV dongles, or searching online forums for comments mentioning specific websites that offer illicit livestreams. Many access the livestreams on their phone or laptop’s web browser and then screen-cast or plug their laptop into their TV. Often, if one pirated sports domain is shut down, a variation is quickly spun up to replace it.

Efforts to combat the pirated sports streams recently scored a major win. In September, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, with which Amazon has partnered, worked with Egyptian authorities in the takedown of Streameast, a massively popular network for pirated live sports. The group said that Streameast was “the largest illicit live sports streaming operation in the world.”

Soccer, given its global popularity, is a massive source for such illegal streams. According to The Athletic, the English Premier League shut down 660,000 social media and website live streams last season alone.

Last month, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the governing body for European soccer, became the first such entity to join the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment.

Amazon, which has been entering into deals with sports leagues to secure exclusive content for its Prime TV App, has an agreement with UEFA to stream matches in select European markets.

• The Miss Universe 2025 finals are over a week away, but the pageant has been plagued by scandal.
• Contestants walked out after a Miss Universe director appeared to call Miss Mexico a “dumbhead.”
• Miss Chile apologized after posting a TikTok that showed her pretending to snort powder.

Miss Universe, the biggest pageant in the world, has found itself plagued with scandal again…and again…and again.

There’s been a surprise leadership change, a Miss Universe director yelling at a contestant on camera, racist remarks from a former winner — and that was just in the past week.

All the bad press has brought renewed international attention to a brand that came under fire just last year after former CEO Anne Jakrajutatip appeared to laugh at contestants’ photos on Instagram Live and praised one titleholder’s blond hair and blue eyes as “the best here.”

Jakrajutatip never addressed the criticism.

Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt summed up the controversy-fatigue that many fans have been feeling, writing in an Instagram statement on November 7: “The drama in the pageant world has been weighing heavy on the hearts of so many.”

Only time will tell if more drama will follow before the November 21 final. Until then, here’s everything that’s happened so far at the Miss Universe 2025 pageant.

Miss Universe announced a new CEO just days before the 2025 pageant began.

Jakrajutatip made history when she acquired the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million in October 2022, becoming the first woman to own the pageant since its inception in 1952.

During the Miss Universe 2023 competition, Jakrajutatip promised to usher in a new era for the “global women’s empowerment platform.”

“From now on, it’s going to be run by women, owned by a trans woman, for all women around the world,” she said.

That era didn’t last long. On October 29, Miss Universe announced that former diplomat Mario Búcaro was the new CEO. Jakjrajutatip had quietly stepped down in June.

Búcaro, previously Miss Universe’s vice president for international relations, now works alongside Raul Rocha, who became president after Jakrajutatip sold a 50% stake to his company in January 2024.

Jakrajutatip’s resignation comes amid financial issues at her company, JKN Global Group. After defaulting on a multimillion-dollar loan in September 2023, the company petitioned Thailand’s bankruptcy court. In June 2025, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Jakrajutatip had included false or misleading information in JKN’s 2023 financial statements.

In the statement announcing Búcaro as CEO, the Miss Universe Organization said Jakrajutatip had stepped down to focus on her family. She has yet to make a public comment about her resignation or the SEC complaint.

Jakrajutatip did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The director of Miss Universe Thailand yelled at Miss Mexico, prompting contestants to walk out in protest.

During a November 4 meeting with the Miss Universe contestants, Nawat Itsaragrisil, who was recently named the director of Miss Thailand and host for the 74th Miss Universe competition in Bangkok, confronted Miss Mexico Fátima Bosch and accused her of not participating in a promotional event for the pageant.

In the exchange, which was captured on Miss Universe Thailand’s Facebook livestream, Itsaragrisil goes back and forth with Bosch as he criticizes the Miss Mexico team. The other Miss Universe contestants can be seen on the livestream, silently watching from their seats.

“If you listen to your director, you’re a dumbhead,” Itsaragrisil appears to tell Bosch during the livestream. He later told reporters that the word he had used was “damage.”

“I have a voice,” Bosch told Itsaragrisil after he told her, “I did not give you an opportunity to talk.”

“You are not respecting me as a woman,” she added.

Multiple Miss Universe contestants walked out of the room after Itsaragrisil, who also runs the Miss Grand International pageant, called for security to remove Bosch. The director demanded that the contestants return to their seats, saying: “If anyone wants to continue the contest, sit down.”

Bosch ultimately decided to stay in the competition, sharing her reason in an Instagram caption. “Mexicans don’t give up because giving up has never been part of our history,” she wrote on November 6.

Representatives for Bosch, Itsaragrisil, and the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to requests for comment.

Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjær Theilvig walked out with contestants in support of Bosch.

“To trash another girl is beyond disrespectful,” Theilvig can be heard saying in a clip reposted across Instagram and TikTok as the scandal broke.

“That’s why I’m putting on my coat and leaving,” she added.

Past winners from Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Grand International — the pageant Itsaragrisil founded and still owns — also posted statements in support of Bosch.

“Since the beginning of this year’s Miss Universe competition, those of us on this side of the world have been waking up to ‘surprises’ every day — and today was no exception,” Miss Universe 2023 Sheynnis Palacios wrote on her Instagram story on November 4. “Some of the values that should guide Miss Universe — respect, dignity, gender equality, and transparency — are now being questioned.”

“A crown should never come at the cost of a woman’s dignity,” she added.

Voigt, who resigned her title in May 2024 due to the leadership of former Miss USA CEO Laylah Rose, said she was “shocked, disgusted, disappointed, and genuinely horrified” by the video.

“I understand what it feels like when your voice is dismissed and your dignity is demeaned,” Voigt wrote in a November 6 Instagram statement. “I spent years being a chronic people pleaser… but walking away from that fear, speaking up, reclaiming my dignity and my voice was the most liberating act I’ve ever taken.”

Miss Universe president Raul Rocha restricted Itsaragrisil from future Miss Universe 2025 events.

Rocha posted a video on the official Miss Universe Instagram on November 4 stating that he would not “allow the values of respect and dignity of women to be violated.”

“I have restricted Nawat’s participation in the events that are part of the 74th Miss Universe competition, limiting it as much as possible or eliminating it entirely,” he said.

Rocha added that Itsaragrisil’s decision to call security on Bosch was a “serious abuse,” and he accused the Miss Thailand director of having a “constant desire to be the center of attention.”

“The only ones who should shine are our delegates who represent each of their countries with dignity,” he added.

Itsaragrisil broke down in tears as he apologized while speaking to reporters on November 5.

Itsaragrisil apologized for the confrontation with Bosch a day later while giving a tearful press conference.

“This issue has dragged me down to this point. I understand and I apologize,” he added. “I am human. I didn’t want to do anything like that.”

A former Miss Universe winner made racist remarks following Itsaragrisil’s confrontation with Miss Mexico.

Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado was discussing the argument between Itsaragrisil and Bosch during a November 5 Instagram Live when she referred to him as Chinese. When a commenter pointed out that Itsaragrisil was of Thai descent, Machado said “everyone with slanted eyes” was Chinese to her. The Venezuelan beauty queen then pulled back the corners of her eyes on camera to demonstrate.

Machado’s comments prompted a response from Voigt, who made history as the first Venezuelan-American to win the Miss USA title.

Voigt said she was “deeply saddened and disappointed” by Machado’s comments, adding that many of her supporters had reached out and asked if she would stand up for the Asian community.

“The statements she made about Thailand, Thai people, and Asian communities were completely inappropriate, hurtful, and untrue,” Voigt wrote. “The world of pageantry is unique and passionate… but in recent days, the level of drama and negativity online has gone too far.”

Machado is no stranger to headlines since her Miss Universe days. The beauty queen became a central part of Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the last days of the 2016 election after the Democratic candidate said Donald Trump had called Machado “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping” when he owned the Miss Universe pageant.

A spokesperson for Trump denied that he called Machado those names in a statement sent to The New York Times following the presidential debate.

Machado, Itsaragrisil, and Voigt did not respond to requests for comment.

Miss Chile apologized after her makeup video shocked pageant fans.

On November 6, Miss Chile Inna Moll posted a TikTok video that showed her pretending to snort a line of cocaine.

The clip, part of the “Addicted to You” trend, shows a makeup-free Moll dusting some white powder from a compact on her arm. She then leans down and pretends to snort the powder before the video cuts to her in full glam for a Miss Universe event.

Moll was quick to react to the criticism that followed as people began reposting her TikTok. She removed the clip from her page and posted an apology video to her Instagram stories the very next day.

“I want to apologize to those who were offended,” she said in the video, according to Hola!. “The makeup artist told me to record it and, maybe because of the language barrier, I didn’t fully grasp what was happening.”

“I said no at first, but he insisted, and I went along. I should have said no firmly,” Moll added.

Taratorn Aek, the makeup artist behind the video, posted an Instagram statement apologizing to Moll on the same day.

“What I did was thoughtless and without any hidden intent to harm the contestant or the country’s image,” he wrote. “It was merely a piece of content following a current online trend. I assure you that something like this will not happen again.”

While rumors swirled that Moll could be disqualified from the pageant, she remains in the competition and has been frequently featured on Miss Universe’s social media pages.

Moll, Aek, and the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to requests for comment.

• Renaissance Technologies has lost money in its two public funds for the year after a rough October.
• Quants started October on a losing streak but, on average, recovered by the end of the month.
• Early October felt similar to the summer troubles that stung many big-name quants.

October felt like summer for many quants — at first.

Last month started with one of the worst four-day trading periods on record for computer-run hedge funds, according to a Goldman Sachs client note, which said the average quant fund lost 1.8% through October’s first week.

For many quants, the painful start of October brought back memories of June and July, when systematic funds were slammed due to crowded trades, a momentum sell-off, and artificially inflated junk stocks.

Indeed, in the first week of October, Renaissance Technologies — the legendary quant firm founded by the late billionaire Jim Simons — had given away all of its gains on the year in its two biggest funds for external investors. According to HSBC’s Hedge Weekly report, the two funds finished the month in the red for the year.

Renaissance’s Institutional Equities fund was down more than 14% in October, and the strategy’s 2025 losses stand at 8.3%. The Diversified Alpha strategy lost more than 15% last month, putting its year-to-date losses at 10.5%.

Renaissance Technologies declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Paris-based Capital Fund Management’s two largest funds — Stratus and Discus — also lost money in October; the pair were down 1.3% and 2.9%, respectively, for the month, but still positive for the year at 6.5% and 1.2%, a person close to the firm told Business Insider.

Like this summer, the tides eventually turned in October for most funds. A Goldman note from the end of the month states that the last four days of trading in October were positive for quants, helping the average systematic fund finish the month flat.

Despite 2025’s choppiness, Goldman said, stock-trading quants are up 13% year-to-date.

Engineer’s Gate ended October slightly positive, gaining about 0.6%, putting its year-to-date gain at roughly 5.5%, two people familiar with the firm’s performance said. Qube’s flagship strategy was up 1.4% last month, according to a person close to the $34 billion London-based manager. The fund’s year-to-date figures are not known, and the firm declined to provide them.

Man Group’s Numeric Quantitative Alpha fund was flat for the month and is up more than 16% year-to-date. Marshall Wace’s TOPS fund reportedly returned 1.2% in October and has made close to 15% this year so far.

$9.4 billion Walleye’s quant portfolios were the biggest contributors to the firm’s 0.8% gain in October, the firm told investors in a monthly update, with “strength in Asia offsetting weakness in US exposures.”