Le Journal

Getting ready for a holiday trip should be fun, but things have gotten messy in the travel world lately. TikTok user Katie Newton just found out her New York City hotel booking got canceled out of nowhere. She had reserved a room at a Marriott hotel through a company called Sonder, a business that handles short-term rentals and small hotels. According to Bro Bible, Newton posted a video on TikTok about what happened, and more than 385,000 people have watched it. “Our New York City hotel reservation just got canceled,” she explained. “We were supposed to be staying with the Marriott through Sonder, and they just canceled their partnership together, and now, we’re left without a hotel.” What really surprised people was how nobody saw this coming. One person who used to work for Sonder wrote on Reddit that even the staff didn’t know what was going on. “Many of us on the ground didn’t even hear the news from corporate. We found out from guests,” they said. Everyone got caught off guard by the news. When you’re stuck without a hotel, customer service should help Things got worse when people tried to get help. Sonder gave out a phone number that guests could call, but the New York Times reported that the number didn’t even work. When people tried calling, they got a message saying it was out of service. So travelers had no way to reach anyone for help. @ktbrooke97 Replying to @Rachel tik tok please help!! Has anyone had a last minute hotel cancellation like this?! I’m devastated and don’t know what to do #nyc #marriott #newyorkcity #hotels #sonder we booked through @Hotels.com and really hoping they pull through here ♬ original sound – katie Newton is worried because she only has three weeks to find a new place to stay. Hotels in New York City cost a lot of money during the holidays, and she’s running out of options. “My dream trip is gonna be ruined,” she said. “We’re gonna have to cancel everything, and I just don’t know what to do.” While some hotels have tried offering cheap rooms with strange conditions, finding something affordable during busy times is really hard. The whole mess started when Sonder said it was closing down and going through Chapter 7 liquidation. They also said that Marriott-Bonvoy had ended their deal the day before. That meant anyone who booked a Marriott hotel through Sonder didn’t have a reservation anymore. Even if people get their money back, that doesn’t help much when new bookings cost way more or aren’t available at all. The Marriott page on Reddit is full of people sharing similar problems. These problems show how sudden business changes can create big headaches for travelers.

A survey from Deezer and Ipsos reveals strong feelings about AI-generated tunes.

A trip to Walmart is more something you endure than enjoy, but could you actually live there? Well, a 14-year-old Texas teen (who’s anonymous for reasons that will become obvious) did just that in 2014, and it sounds like a blast! Well, for most of it. The boy, who had a history of running away from home, was being watched by his aunt in Corsicana, Texas, when she took her eyes off him to watch TV. Seizing the opportunity, he fled through an unlocked door. The aunt contacted the cops, telling them of his history of absconding and explaining he usually stayed in “creeks, abandoned buildings, or businesses”. Well, this time, he headed to a Walmart and went full undercover commando for two entire days without staff noticing. As per a report from The Daily Mail, he constructed two “secret forts” hidden from view, one in the baby aisle behind boxes of strollers and another in the home goods section behind stacks of paper towels and toilet tissue. He swiped food from the store, and sneaked behind the drink aisle, cutting a hole in the wall to get at the soda without being seen. The reports even say he purloined a fish from the pet store as a companion. Perhaps going a little too far.. So far, so cool. I mean, it’s hardly hardcore survivalism, but there’s something rebellious about sticking it to the man by chomping and gulping your way through a Walmart’s shelves. But there’s also the revelation that the boy decided to wear a diaper so he wouldn’t be spotted using the bathroom. To quote Hank Hill, “That boy ain’t right…” After customers began spotting piles of trash in the store staff became suspicious and soon found his “forts”. Entirely rumbled, the boy tried to flee but was stopped and returned to his family. Walmart easily could have pressed theft charges, but, in a rare display of corporate sympathy, decided to go with a more sympathetic route. Company spokesman Brian Nick told journalists: “This is a sad situation and we are still looking into the details of what happened. As soon as the manager learned that child was hiding in our store we contacted authorities for help and we hope the child is safe.” There’s doubtless more to this runaway than has been made public but over a decade and change on from this escapade, we can only hope this kid has grown up into an adult who doesn’t need to hide out in diapers at Walmart.

Gamers are upset that they might not fully own the next Pokemon game.

As of November 2025, these are the best laptops my colleagues and I have reviewed, from cheap productivity machines to high-powered gaming laptops and everything in between.