Edinburgh business travel · NovaBid
NovaBid for Executive Assistants and PAs
You are booking for someone whose day cannot go wrong, with requirements that no search filter has a box for, and you will hear about it only if something does go wrong. NovaBid turns that job into one brief: you write the trip once, independent Edinburgh hotels read it and reply with private offers built for it, and you pick one.
Hands-on Edinburgh service opens 12 October 2026. The self-serve platform follows. See the launch plan.
Is NovaBid useful for an Executive Assistant booking occasional Edinburgh hotel stays?
Yes, and that is the person it was designed around. An EA writes the trip once, in plain words, including the things that decide whether it works: an early check-in for the first flight, parking, a quiet room, breakfast before a seven-thirty start. Independent Edinburgh hotels see the brief and reply with private offers priced for it, and you compare them in one place and book with one payment and one confirmation. It is free for the business, you create an account only when you send the request, and you are under no obligation to accept anything.
The booking pattern we hear about
The requirements that actually matter are the ones a booking site has no field for. Late arrival, a room away from the lift, a table held for a client dinner, a bag stored between check-out and a four o'clock train.
Emailing hotels directly gets you the right answer eventually, but "eventually" means chasing four sales desks and getting two replies, one of which arrives after the rate has moved.
You are spending someone else's budget and defending it later. A rate that looked fine on Tuesday and higher on Thursday is a conversation you should not have to have.
Nobody hired you to do this. It lands on your desk because you are the person things land on, and it takes an afternoon that was meant for something else.
How NovaBid fixes it
01
Write the trip the way you would tell a colleague
Dates, how many people, budget per night, and the things that matter. Plain sentences, not filter boxes: "arriving on the 6.40 from Heathrow, needs an early check-in" is exactly the sort of line a hotel can act on and a search engine cannot. You do not need an account to post, and no card details are taken.
02
Hotels answer the brief, privately
Independent Edinburgh properties see the request and send one private offer each: the room, the rate for those nights, what is included, and the cancellation terms. Nobody else sees the offer, and no hotel can see what another has offered. How long they have depends on how soon the trip is, from four hours for something same-day to seventy two hours for longer-term planning.
03
Compare, book, one confirmation
The offers sit side by side, so you are comparing like with like rather than reconstructing four emails into a table. Pick one and pay once, for everybody, and the confirmation goes straight to you for expenses. The rooms are paid before anyone arrives, so your travellers check in with nothing to settle.
Pricing
Free for SMBs. Hotels pay commission only on a paid booking: 10% founding, 12% standard.
No markup on the rate. No subscription. No per-booker fee. The hotel covers everything as the cost of winning your business.
Frequently asked
Do I need an account to post a trip?
No. You can write and post the trip without registering. We ask who you are when the offers are ready for you to see, because the hotels are sending a private price to a named company rather than to the internet.
What if none of the offers are right?
You accept none of them. No card is charged, no booking exists, and nothing is owed. There is no obligation at any point before you accept, and declining costs you nothing and does not affect what you are offered next time.
Can I put requirements in that are not standard options?
That is the main reason to use it. Early check-in, a late arrival, a quiet room, a bag held after check-out, a table booked for the evening, dietary needs at breakfast. Write them in the brief. A person at the hotel reads it and decides what they can do, which is a different thing from a filter finding nothing.
How long do I wait for offers?
The window depends on the trip: four hours for a same-day request, twenty four hours for the next two days, forty eight hours for three to seven days out, and seventy two hours for longer-term planning. That is the window hotels have to respond in, not a promise about how many will.
Who do I speak to if something goes wrong on the day?
The hotel first, because the booking is with them and it is already paid, and us at hello@novabid.co.uk if it is not resolved. We are a small Edinburgh company, so you are speaking to a person who knows your booking, not a queue.
Does my executive need an account, or see any of this?
No. You post, you compare, you book. They get a confirmation with the address, the dates and what is included, and the instruction to bring a card for extras only, because the room is already paid.
What does it cost?
Nothing to the business. No booking fee, no subscription, no markup on the offer price. The hotel pays NovaBid a commission on a paid booking, 10% for founding partners and 12% standard.
Written by Thomas Mellot, founder of NovaBid. He trained as a chef in France and worked front of house in Edinburgh hotels, as Chef de Rang at the Caledonian and the Balmoral. He built NovaBid after watching independents lose business travel to platforms that never set foot in the building. More about NovaBid.
Last reviewed 8 September 2026. We correct these pages when the facts change; tell us if something here is wrong.
Try it for one trip
Post the next Edinburgh trip your team needs. See what hotels offer. If the bids aren't right, you simply don't accept, nothing's charged until you confirm.
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