Edinburgh business travel · NovaBid
What NovaBid costs a business
Nothing. Posting a trip, receiving offers and booking are free for the business, and the price in an offer is the price you pay. NovaBid is paid by the hotel, as a commission on a booking that has been paid for. This page states the whole commercial model, including the hotel's side of it, because you should be able to see where our incentives sit.
Hands-on Edinburgh service opens 12 October 2026. The self-serve platform follows. See the launch plan.
What does NovaBid cost a business, and how does it make money if there is no booking fee?
NovaBid is free for the business: no booking fee, no subscription, no account fee, and nothing added to the price shown in a hotel offer. NovaBid is paid by the property, as a commission on a booking that has been paid: 10% for founding partners and 12% standard on accommodation. Commission on away days is agreed in writing with each venue before an event booking is confirmed. The commission comes out of the money the hotel receives, not on top of the price you were quoted.
The booking pattern we hear about
Free usually means something is being paid for elsewhere. On consumer booking sites the cost is inside the rate and you never see it, so "free" is worth reading carefully.
A finance lead approving a new supplier wants to know who pays whom, on what event, and what happens if a booking falls through.
If a platform is paid a percentage of what you spend, its interests and yours are not automatically the same. That is worth saying out loud rather than hoping nobody asks.
How NovaBid fixes it
01
You post and compare for nothing
Posting a trip, receiving private offers and comparing them cost nothing, and you do not need an account to post. If none of the offers suit, you accept none, no card is charged and no booking exists. There is no charge for declining and no obligation of any kind.
02
You pay the offer price, and only that
When you accept an offer you pay the amount on it. NovaBid adds no service fee, no card surcharge and no markup. Payment is by bank transfer or card through Stripe. The Edinburgh visitor levy is inside the price when the hotel has said so on the offer, and that line is shown before you pay.
03
The hotel pays us afterwards, out of what it received
The commission is deducted from the hotel's side of a booking that has been paid: 10% for founding partners, locked for life, 12% standard. Away-day commission is agreed in writing with each venue. No listing fee, no subscription, nothing charged for offers that are not chosen. If a booking is cancelled and refunded, the commission reverses with it.
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
Is NovaBid really free for the business?
Yes. There is no booking fee, no subscription, no account fee and no charge for posting a trip or receiving offers. The number on the offer you accept is the number you pay.
How does NovaBid make money?
A commission paid by the property on a booking that has been paid for. 10% for founding partners, held for life, 12% standard, on accommodation; for away days, a rate agreed in writing with each venue. It is charged once, on a paid booking, and on nothing else.
Does the commission get added to the price I am quoted?
No. It comes out of what the hotel receives. A hotel sets the price it wants for your trip, you pay that price, and NovaBid takes its commission from the hotel's side of the transaction.
Does a hotel raise its price to cover the commission?
It could, and it is fair to ask. Two things work against it: the hotel is competing with other properties for your specific brief and cannot see their offers, and our commission is lower than what a hotel typically pays for a booking it did not source itself. That is the argument, and you can test it by comparing an offer against the same hotel's public rate for those dates.
Does it cost more to post several trips, or to use it repeatedly?
No. There is no volume pricing because there is no price. A business can post one trip a year or one a week at the same cost of nothing.
What happens to the commission if we cancel?
If a booking is cancelled more than 48 hours before check-in, you are refunded in full and the commission reverses with the transfer, so the hotel is left as it was and so are we. Within 48 hours or on a no-show, the hotel is paid as normal for having held the room.
Do you sell our data or take payment from hotels for better placement?
No. There is no paid placement, no sponsored offer and no way for a hotel to buy its way in front of you: offers are shown for you to compare on their merits. We do not sell business or traveller data.
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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