When a Partner Missteps, Your Brand Pays the Price
Picture this: a customer uses your platform, redeems loyalty points, and expects a high-quality, reliable experience. But then something goes wrong. They receive cancellation notices, vague support responses, and no clear path forward. The partner responsible for delivering that part of the journey is suddenly unavailable.
From the customer’s perspective, none of that matters. They trusted your brand to deliver, and now that trust is at risk. This is not a rare example. Many companies depend on external partners to deliver parts of the customer experience. When those partners fail, the customer holds YOUR brand accountable, and your brand absorbs the reputational damage.
The breakdown of a recent high-profile partnership shows how even well-intentioned collaborations can quickly lead to customer fallout if not managed carefully.
What Happened
In 2024, Marriott International entered a licensing agreement with Sonder, a hospitality company offering apartment style stays. The goal was to offer Marriott Bonvoy members more booking options and allow them to earn and redeem loyalty points at Sonder properties.
By November 2025, the partnership abruptly ended. Marriott cited Sonder’s failure to meet certain obligations and terminated the agreement. Days later, Sonder filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and began winding down its U.S. operations.
The customer impact was immediate.
Guests who had booked stays through Marriott found their reservations canceled, some in the middle of a trip. Refunds were unclear. Some loyalty members faced problems accessing points or benefits, and support channels offered limited help. Even though Marriott was not the source of the disruption, the customers blamed the brand they trusted.
The lesson is urgent: when a partner fails, both brands may face consequences. Yet, your brand is the one the customer contacts, criticizes, and remembers for the bad experience. ~Stacy Sherman
3 CX Lessons Every Leader Must Apply
- Identify Every Point Where Partners Interact with Your Customers
If a partner touches your customer, it becomes part of your customer experience. You need to manage it accordingly.
Doing CX Right® Tips:
- Make a complete list of every customer interaction that involves a partner. This could include third party platforms, local fulfillment teams, outsourced service centers, or loyalty redemptions
- Ask yourself: Would a customer think this moment represents our brand? If so, it must meet your standards
- Define clear service expectations for those moments and measure them as you would internal teams
- Include partner touchpoints in your customer surveys and CX metrics. Track how those interactions influence the customer’s overall impression
In the Marriott and Sonder case, customers booked and redeemed rewards through Marriott, but fulfillment was handled by Sonder. When things failed, the experience still reflected on Marriott.
- Define Clear Roles and Customer Protocols for Disruptions
Many partnerships focus on expansion, sales, and shared benefits. But few define exactly how customer issues will be handled when things go wrong. Without clear accountability, communication breaks down and the customer experience suffers.
Doing CX Right® Tips:
- Define exactly who handles customer communication, escalation, and resolution in the event of a disruption
- Work with each partner to build a shared response plan. Make sure customer experience remains the priority
- Test scenarios before they happen. If a partner cannot deliver, do you know how and when your team will step in
In this case, many Marriott guests received abrupt cancellation notices or were left without clear support. The lack of coordination amplified customer frustration.
- Protect Customer Promises That Depend on External Partners
When you offer guarantees, perks, or loyalty benefits, customers expect them to be honored. That holds true whether the service is delivered by you or a partner.
Doing CX Right® Tips:
- Create a list of every customer promise that depends on an outside party. This includes service guarantees, delivery commitments, and point redemptions
- Assess the risk in each case. If the partner fails, what will your customer experience
- Only offer what you are confident you can fulfill, even if your partner cannot
In the Marriott and Sonder scenario, Bonvoy members lost access to benefits they had trusted. The damage was not just operational, it was emotional! And emotion leaves a lasting imprint in people’s minds. Read that again!
Final Thought
Operational excellence inside your company is not enough. When a partner fails in front of your customer, it sets off a chain reaction of confusion, frustration, and disappointment that all land on your brand. As we saw in the Marriott and Sonder breakdown, the emotional toll of a disrupted experience grows when communication is unclear and expectations are not met.
Customers do not care who caused the failure. They only remember how they felt and which brand they trusted at the moment it happened.
Ask yourself:
- Which parts of our customer experience are owned by partners?
- Do we measure and monitor those touchpoints the same way we do internal ones?
- If a partner fails tomorrow, do we have a plan that protects the customer?
If you are not sure, this is the time to act. Doing CX Right means proactively managing partner interactions, not just thinking about them or hoping they go smoothly. Set clear standards, monitor performance, and fix weak links before they create real damage to your customer experience and business results.
Stacy Sherman has dedicated 25 years to passionately forging authentic connections between people and brands. She is dedicated to helping businesses excel in Experience Management to retain profitable customers and their valued workforce. Stacy achieves this through her proven Heart & Science Loyalty model, merging CX, Marketing, and Sales roles at reputable brands like Liveops, Verizon, Schindler Elevator, Wilton Brands, and AT&T.
To connect with Stacy or learn more, click here: Doing Customer Experience (CX) Right
