MakeMyTrip India — Denied check-in

The Hosteller is possibly a fun place for youngsters visiting Lonavala but what I had to go through as a family person was totally unacceptable. Having read through the various online reviews that talk about kids enjoying their stay at the hosteller, I booked the deluxe quadruple room with a garden view (Booking ID: NH[protected]) and with the excitement of visiting Lonavala for the first time, landed at the hotel premises post noon with my family. To our dismay, we were denied check-in by the ‘caretaker’ Mr. Gaurav, stating that the hosteller rules prevent those of age < 18 from staying at the hotel – as was the case with one of my children. We were given the option to stay in a quadruple room (without any view) on the adjacent property named Krishna Farms but on the condition that we must make a fresh booking by paying Rs. 4000 separately since it was a totally different entity – though to note is that the ‘property manager’ for both the properties is Mr. Gaurav.

Agreed that it was my mistake of not noting the above rule but why is it that Google reviews under ‘The Hosteller’ talk about kids enjoying their stay there and why is it that even MakeMyTrip (MMT) allows families with kids (under 12 years of age) to even make a booking at ‘The Hosteller’. Finding the above to be misleading (and being stranded on the road despite making the full payment of Rs. 4395 months back through MMT), I immediately tried reaching out to MMT, but Mr. Gaurav has in the meanwhile hurriedly collected Rs. 4000 from my wife for our new stay at ‘Krishna Farms’. Left without options, I checked with Mr. Gaurav multiple times that our stay at ‘The Hosteller’ would be canceled from their end so that I could follow up with MMT for a refund and the same was confirmed by Mr. Gaurav every time. However, given that the cancellation wasn’t reflected in the MMT site until night, I again tried reaching out to MMT and with Mr. Gaurav also being brought into the conference call, his words were totally contradicting to the false hopes that were given to me until then. Also, he wasn’t even available in person for us to talk and raise our concerns post that incident.

To conclude, I would like to confirm again that I haven’t even visited the deluxe quadruple room that I booked at ‘The Hosteller’ through MMT, and that I stayed at another quadruple room at ‘Krishna Farms’ by paying separately. It would have been a genuine gesture if Mr. Gaurav would have allowed us to stay at “Krishna Farms” as a replacement for our “The Hosteller” booking (wherein rooms in both the properties were mostly vacant on the weekday that we visited). Also, why is it that my stay still shows under ‘completed’ & not ‘canceled’ at ‘The Hosteller’ and why is MMT asking me to review my stay there? Either way, I would hereby want to share my terrible experience (and hence a spoiled vacation) through this first-ever negative review of mine.