After every deadly hotel fire in India, a familiar pattern emerges in public discourse. Authorities announce investigations, proclaim that those responsible will be held accountable, and make a few arrests. In the immediate aftermath, inspections of nearby hotels are carried out with urgency and media attention. However, this focus quickly diminishes, and enforcement efforts often lapse. Eventually, a new fire occurs elsewhere.
The June 3, 2026, fire in Flourish Stay, a hotel located in Malviya Nagar, which killed 21 people, will follow that pattern unless one particular question is asked loudly enough and consistently enough.
That question is not just about the owner, Lokesh Bajaj, who ran a six-room licensed establishment as a 25-room commercial hotel with sealed windows and a single locked exit, and for whom the police have registered an FIR under culpable homicide.
The question is about a different party, which hasn’t really been brought into question, but one that was actively helping guests book rooms in this building right up until the morning it burned.
The question is: why was the Flourish Stay hotel on MakeMyTrip? Or Goibibo? Or EasyMyTrip? Or Agoda?
And the more disturbing follow-up: if you look at the photographs that MakeMyTrip was hosting for this property, how was anyone comfortable clicking “Book Now”?
What The MakeMyTrip Listing Showed
The hotel’s listing on MakeMyTrip is with the name ‘Flourish Stay Saket near Max Hospital’, and although the hotel is now unavailable for booking, the general information about the establishment, and details about the rooms, facilities, and amenities provided are still there.
Now, in the About the Hotel section, it states, “Hotel is just opposite to Max Super Specialisty hospital, 300 meters from Malviya Nagar Metro Station and 500 meters from Select Citywalk Mall. Hotel Flourish Stay is a contemporary property that blends modern comfort with warm hospitality. Ideally located for both business and leisure travelers, the hotel features elegantly designed rooms with comfortable furnishings and all essential amenities to ensure a restful stay. The property offers a COMPLIMENTARY COMMON KITCHEN with basic utensils and stovetop and guests have the FREE ACCESS of this area. With personalized service, thoughtful touches, and a welcoming ambiance, Hotel Flourish Stay offers a relaxing retreat in the heart of the city.”
(Yes, the spelling and grammar errors were there in the listing itself.)
Even in the Basic Facilities section, it does state a “Kitchenette(Induction, Utensils)” available to the guests. However, the room amenities did not disclose that some of the rooms had a Kitchenette inside them as well, complete with utensils, and a fire stove with a gas pipeline.
Although the room details are no longer available on MMT, a quick search on the Goibibo page reveals that the ‘Premium Twin Room with Kitchenette’ states that “the room features two plush twin beds and a kitchenette.”
These photos also clearly show a gas stove in the kitchenette with a working gas pipeline attached to it.
Read that again. A gas stove. Inside a guest room. In a hotel that had no fire NOC, sealed windows, a single locked exit, and was operating at four times its permitted capacity.
Along with this, the furnishings were also wooden: wooden almirahs, wooden bed frames, and wooden wall panelling. Mattresses on beds in tight spaces. Even if it is not actual wood, it is definitely not something that would be fireproof.
Read More: Families Recall Victims’ Final Words Before The Saket Building Collapsed
What Does MakeMyTrip Actually Require For A Listing
To understand how this is possible, it helps to understand what MakeMyTrip’s hotel registration process actually requires, and, more specifically, what it does not.
As per the Go-MMT Partner Community page, to create a listing, besides all the information regarding the establishment, the owner also has to “Upload a valid government lease or registration document as proof of property ownership. Ensure that the property address matches the details on the registration document. Hotels are required to upload registration documents, while it is optional for Homestays & Villas.”
Along with this, the platform also requires Bank Account details, as well as PAN Details and GST Details.
According to MMT’s partner onboarding platform, Connect by MakeMyTrip, “After you finish creating your listing, it goes through a quality check and validation. Your property will go online in about 5-7 working days on our site.”
It is not clear what licenses and other official documents MMT requires from hotel listings, though.
While establishments like hotels, homestays, resorts, bed and breakfasts, and more are supposed to get various certificates and licenses including Trade license, fire safety permit, police registration, and FSSAI license issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, and other authority bodies of the Indian government, the same does not seem to be a requirement when creating a listing on these online portals.
It is also not as if a human being is checking over the documents that are being submitted, nor are any physical checks being carried out.
Portals like MakeMyTrip list tens of thousands of properties across India. Physical inspection at that scale simply does not work.
The platform is, in this sense, an online marketplace, and like most, it mostly relies on the honesty of the sellers it lists rather than independent verification of every claim.
So one really has to question, how verified are these listings on these portals? Because, for the moment, it seems as if anyone can list anything as long as they have the basic few documents available, or, in some cases, probably forged ones as well. There is no team of officials who are going through every document submitted, nor are they asking for all the papers, even if they are being checked.
So basically, since the platform’s verification process is limited to just confirming whether a document file was uploaded, and at best, a rudimentary overview by a probably overworked employee who is going over tens of such applications in a day, it ultimately provides zero protection from such unlicensed and unsafe properties.
Regular people then look over these listings on such reputable sites, believe they are complying with the laws and regulations and make their booking.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The Indian Express, Times of India, India Today
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Malviya Nagar, Malviya Nagar fire, delhi hotel fire, delhi hotel fire news, delhi hotel fire incident, Malviya Nagar news, Malviya Nagar fire news, Malviya Nagar hotel fire, malviya nagar fire hotel name, malviya nagar fire accident, delhi fire malviya nagar, delhi fire accident, delhi fire incident
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