Edinburgh independents · NovaBid
What a hotel pays NovaBid, all of it
One published rate card for every hotel on the platform, nothing negotiated behind anyone's back. This page is the whole of it, so you can put it next to what you pay today.
What you pay us
Seven lines. There is no eighth.
The rate
10% commission at the founding rate, locked for life for the first cohort and capped at ten properties. 12% standard after that. Plus VAT where applicable.
Only on a paid booking
Commission is charged once, when a business has chosen your offer and paid for it. An offer that is not chosen costs nothing.
Nothing on the visitor levy
No commission on the Edinburgh visitor levy. When your offer says the levy is included, commission is worked out on the price less the levy and the VAT on it.
Nothing on a refunded booking
If a booking is cancelled and refunded under the platform rule, the commission reverses with it. You are never charged for a stay that did not happen and was not paid for.
No listing fee, no subscription
Being on the platform costs nothing. There is no monthly charge, no set-up fee and no minimum.
No deduction for payment processing
When the business pays through NovaBid, the payment processing charge is ours. What reaches you is the booking value less commission, nothing else taken off.
No commission on extras bought at the property
Commission is on the booking value in the offer the business accepted. Dinner, drinks, parking, a meeting room booked on the day: yours in full.
Hotels on Mews: the guest pays the hotel through Mews Payments and NovaBid invoices its commission afterwards. The rate and the rules above are the same.
How you are paid
The booking value belongs to the hotel. NovaBid remits it less commission: the transfer is initiated at booking and typically reaches your bank within 7 days.
One published rate card for every hotel, nothing negotiated behind anyone's back.
The founding rate is 10% and the standard rate is 12%, published here and written into the same agreement every hotel signs. Every hotel in the founding ten is on the same terms, and every hotel after them is on the same terms as each other. Nobody buys a better position, and nobody is quietly on a different number.
What do you pay today?
Seven kinds of charge turn up in hotel distribution contracts. Tick the ones in yours. No names and no numbers here: the figures are in your own agreement and your own statements.
Commission
A percentage of each booking. On NovaBid: one published rate, only on a paid booking.
Listing fees
A charge for appearing at all, or for appearing higher. On NovaBid: none.
Subscription
A monthly or annual charge whether or not bookings arrive. On NovaBid: none.
Payment processing fees
A deduction for taking the payment. On NovaBid: none taken from the hotel.
Rate parity clauses
A contract term about the prices you may offer elsewhere. On NovaBid: none. Your offers are private quotes you set for one trip.
Commission on cancellations
A charge on a booking that was refunded. On NovaBid: none.
Paid marketing programmes
Visibility or preferred placement bought with a higher rate. On NovaBid: none. Every hotel is shown the same request on the same terms.
What the studies say
Two findings, each from its source, with the link so you can read it yourself.
In its 2026 European Hotel Distribution Study, HOTREC, the European hotel association, found that 51% of hotels say online travel agencies undercut their own prices frequently or occasionally, and 44% report their rooms being resold through third parties they never contracted.
Source: HOTREC European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, reported by PhocusWire
The largest booking platform does not publish its commission rate. Its own partner help page says a property pays a set percentage on each reservation and that the percentage is in that property’s own agreement.
Source: Booking.com partner help, "What commission do I pay"
On NovaBid an offer is a private quote you set for one trip. It is not listed anywhere for anyone to resell, and the rate you pay us is on this page.
Written by Thomas Mellot, founder of NovaBid. More about NovaBid.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. We correct this page when the facts change; tell us if something here is wrong.
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