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Fact Check
‘Retiring Room Empty, Yet No Vacancies’: Is There An Online Booking Scam At Guruvayur Railway Station?
Claim
A passenger, despite being notified of zero vacancies while attempting to book a bed online at the Guruvayur railway station, found the dormitory to be completely empty when he went there.
Fact
Guruvayur station currently has no retiring rooms owing to ongoing redevelopment work, clarify authorities; viral video shows the City Livelihood Centre, located in the same town.
A video is circulating across social media platforms, alleging irregularities regarding the online booking process for air-conditioned retiring rooms at the Guruvayur railway station, located in the pilgrimage town in Kerala’s Thrissur district. According to the users, a passenger, despite being notified of zero vacancies while attempting to book a bed online, found the dormitory to be completely empty when he went there, raising doubts of a scam.
Archived link of the claim can be seen here.
Fact Check / Verification
We conducted a keyword search for “Guruvayur retiring room scam”, which led us to a Facebook post, dated August 17, 2025, by PIB Fact Check, clarifying that Guruvayur railway station currently has no retiring rooms available due to ongoing redevelopment work. The post stated, “Online booking of retiring rooms will be opened once the construction is completed.”
Further, Southern Railway’s Thiruvananthapuram Division confirmed on August 16, 2025 through its official X handle that the viral post is false. It reiterated that the Guruvayur railway station does not currently offer retiring room facilities.
When we checked, we came to know that this video was earlier circulated on October 15, 2024, titled,”All facilities are available at the [Guruvayur] City Livelihood Centre, which was launched in West Nada under the Central Government’s Prasad scheme. This video also claimed that they tried to book the dormitory facility online but were told “no availability”, but when they visited the place in person, the room was found completely empty.
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A similar video showcasing the City Livelihood Centre’s dormitory was uploaded on the Kudumbashree YouTube channel on February 20, 2023.
Newschecker reached out to City Livelihood Centre, who confirmed to us that online booking is not available for these rooms. However, booking through phone is possible.
“We are aware of the video in circulation. It appears to be a deliberate attempt to misrepresent and disrupt our system. Dormitory facilities are available across all four entrances of the temple, and they are consistently occupied. Visitors typically book their rooms and proceed for darshan, which may give the impression that the rooms are vacant. However, they are not,” said a representative from the City Livelihood Centre office, which further confirmed the viral claim to be false.
Also Read: AI-Generated Image Of ‘Vanara Sadya’ At Kerala Temple Goes Viral
Conclusion
A viral video, claiming to show an empty retiring room at Guruvayur railway station despite there being no vacancies online, was found to be of a different facility. Also, the railway station currently has no retiring rooms due to ongoing redevelopment work.
Sources
Facebook Post by PIB Fact Check on August 17,2025
X Post by DRM Thiruvananthapuram on August 16,2025
YouTube Video by Kudumbasree Official on February 20,2023
Telephone Conversation with Office of City livelihood centre Guruvayoor
RESULT
False
False
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