Wife, daughter and son waited in a car in snowfall at minus 4 degrees after the booked Gulmarg hotel was missing, MakeMyTrip ordered to pay Rs 48,775

A consumer commission in Gurdaspur, Punjab, has ordered MakeMyTrip India Pvt Ltd to pay Rs 48,775 to advocate Rajesh Chohan. He told the commission that the two hotels he booked through the website for a family trip to Srinagar and Gulmarg could not be found when the family reached the addresses.

The advocate's wife, daughter and son waited in a car in heavy snowfall at minus 4 degrees Celsius after the Gulmarg hotel turned out to be missing. The amount ordered is Rs 30,000 more than the Rs 18,775 he paid for the two bookings.

What happened when the family reached Srinagar and Gulmarg after booking hotels online

Chohan booked a family room at Hotel Heritage Rose Inn in Srinagar for December 27 and 28, 2025, paying Rs 5,788. He also booked two rooms at Hotel Apple Tree Resorts in Gulmarg for December 28 and 29, paying Rs 12,987. Both payments were made through UPI on the MakeMyTrip platform.


The family reached Srinagar around 11 am on December 27. Chohan said the address turned out to be a private homestay and not a hotel. He said the family was kept waiting for two hours in the name of cleaning and then booked another stay at extra cost.

Traffic and army convoy delays slowed the drive to Gulmarg the next day. Chohan said the family reached late and found that the second hotel did not exist either. Rooms were not available because of heavy snowfall, so the family spent the night in the car. Pre-booked gondola tickets could not be used. They returned to Gurdaspur on December 29.

He said he wrote and called MakeMyTrip on all three days through WhatsApp, customer care and email. A legal notice dated January 22, 2026 also went unanswered, he said.

Can a travel booking website be held responsible when a hotel it listed does not exist

MakeMyTrip said it only works as a facilitator or aggregator. It said it passes a customer's request to the hotel through its software and shares the confirmation once it comes back. The company said it does not own, run or control any hotel listed on its platform.

The company also said it is an intermediary under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and cannot be held liable for a hotel's service. Its liability, it said, is limited to finding another stay if one is available or refunding the money as per its terms.

Chohan told the commission that he paid MakeMyTrip and that the company gave neither another stay nor a refund. He called this deficiency in service and a business malpractice.

Does a consumer complaint fail if the hotel is not made a party to the case

MakeMyTrip argued that the complaint should fail because the two hotels were not named as parties. It said the complaint is about how the hotels were shown to customers and that running the stay was fully in the hotels' hands.

Chohan argued his own case in person. He told the commission that he booked and paid through MakeMyTrip and that the company did not help him when the problem came up.

What a no show tag means when a customer says the booked hotel was never there

MakeMyTrip said it contacted both hotels after the complaint. It said the hotels replied that Chohan never came to them and marked him as a no show. The company said the hotel invoice shows this and that Chohan did not contact the hotels or its support team during the stay.

The company said both hotels refused a refund under a non-refundable booking policy, even though it asked for one. Chohan said he told MakeMyTrip about the problem right away, on the same days it happened.

Do terms accepted with an I Agree click protect online travel companies from refund claims

MakeMyTrip pointed to its user agreement and terms of service, which customers accept by clicking an I Agree button. It said hotel details are supplied by the hotels and that any problem with them must be settled between the customer and the hotel.

Both sides put documents on record. Chohan filed his sworn affidavit and 20 exhibits, along with a rejoinder. MakeMyTrip filed an affidavit of its representative Puneet Chawla and six documents. Neither side filed written arguments.

What travellers can ask for in a consumer commission over wrong hotel bookings

Chohan had asked for a full refund of Rs 18,775 with 24 percent yearly interest. He also asked for Rs 5 lakh for harassment, mental agony, physical suffering, financial loss and the wasted gondola tickets, and Rs 25,000 for legal costs. The commission ordered MakeMyTrip to pay Rs 48,775.