Booking Terms for Business Customers
Last updated: 5 July 2026
These terms apply to companies and organisations ("Booking Companies") that post trip requests, book, and pay through NovaBid. They supplement our Terms of Service; for anything about a booking, payment, cancellation, or refund, these Booking Terms prevail.
1. Who we are, and whose booking it is
NovaBid Ltd ("NovaBid", "we") is registered in Scotland (Company No. SC886622), 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN; contact hello@novabid.co.uk. We operate a reverse-auction marketplace: you post a hotel trip request, independent hotels submit competing offers, and you choose one and pay through the platform. NovaBid acts as the disclosed commercial agent of the hotel to conclude your booking and collect payment. The contract for the accommodation itself is between you and the hotel, on the terms of the offer you accepted. NovaBid is not a hotel, tour operator, or package organiser, and does not sell packages or linked travel arrangements.
2. Business use only
The platform is for business use. By using it you confirm that you are acting in the course of a business, are at least 18, and have authority to bind the company you represent. It must not be used to book private leisure travel as a consumer.
3. The service is free for Booking Companies
NovaBid charges you nothing: no platform fee, no subscription, no booking fee, and no markup on the hotel's offer price. The price you see is the total price you pay. NovaBid is paid by the hotel, a commission on confirmed bookings only. Perks, payment protection, and confirmation apply only to bookings made through the platform.
4. Trip requests and offers
Trip requests must describe a genuine planned business trip; speculative or false requests are not permitted. You may edit a trip request while it has no offers; after an offer arrives, only non-material fields may be changed. Offers are private to you, remain open until their stated deadline, and may include conditions (for example breakfast or perks) that form part of your contract with the hotel, read them.
5. Booking and payment
Selecting an offer creates a binding booking at the stated total price. Your card is charged immediately, in full, via Stripe; NovaBid does not store card details. Payment is collected by NovaBid as the hotel's agent, and once processed your payment obligation to the hotel for that booking is discharged, the hotel cannot ask you or your guests to pay again for the accommodation (extras at the property, such as the bar or minibar, are separate and payable to the hotel). Your confirmation, with the hotel's name, address and contact details, is emailed immediately; check it and report any error within 24 hours.
6. Cancellations and refunds
More than 48 hours before check-in: cancel for a full refund, no charge, no questions. Within 48 hours of check-in (or a no-show): no refund, the hotel is paid as normal, having held the room for you. Refunds return to your original payment method, normally within 5 to 10 business days (Stripe's timelines). To cancel, use the platform or email hello@novabid.co.uk with your booking reference; the cancellation time is when we receive it. Date or guest-name changes after confirmation are at the hotel's discretion; we will ask on your behalf.
7. If the hotel cannot honour your booking
The hotel must use reasonable efforts to secure comparable alternative accommodation at no extra cost to you. If that is not possible, or you reasonably decline the alternative, you receive a full refund whatever the notice period. NovaBid's responsibility here is limited to the refund and those reasonable efforts; hotels that fail bookings face suspension from the platform.
8. Problems and disputes
Raise any problem with a stay first with the hotel at the property, most issues are fixed on the spot. If it is not resolved, email hello@novabid.co.uk within 7 days of check-out with your booking reference and we will facilitate a resolution with the hotel. Where a refund is disputed, NovaBid will make a reasonable determination on the available evidence; that determination is final as between platform users and does not affect your legal rights against the hotel.
9. Your responsibilities
Provide accurate guest details, and only share a guest's details where you have their authority to do so (see our Privacy Policy, guest data is passed to the hotel to fulfil the booking). Your guests must comply with the hotel's house rules; liability for damage at the property is a matter between your company or the guest and the hotel. Do not circumvent the platform: where you were introduced to a hotel through NovaBid, you agree that for twelve (12) months from the most recent introduction or booking you will not arrange bookings with that hotel off-platform where the opportunity arose from that introduction.
10. Liability
NovaBid's role is the marketplace, payment collection as the hotel's agent, and booking confirmation. To the fullest extent permitted by law, NovaBid is not liable for the quality, safety, or delivery of accommodation, or for the acts or omissions of hotels or guests. For a hotel's failure to honour a booking, NovaBid's liability is limited to the full refund and reasonable relocation efforts in section 7. NovaBid's total aggregate liability to a Booking Company in any 12-month period shall not exceed the total amount that company paid through the platform in that period. Neither party is liable for indirect or consequential loss or loss of profits. Nothing excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
11. General
Force majeure: neither NovaBid nor the hotel is liable for failure to perform caused by events beyond reasonable control; if such an event prevents your stay you receive a full refund. Variation: we may update these terms on 30 days' email notice of material changes; changes do not affect confirmed bookings. Severability and waiver: if any provision is unenforceable the rest stands, and a failure to enforce is not a waiver. These terms create no third-party rights under the Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017. The English version prevails over any courtesy translation.
12. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of Scotland, and disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.