East Lothian-based accommodation booking site Private House Stays checks in £20k funding boost

Major Scottish online accommodation booking portal Private House Stays is set to implement the next phase of its growth strategy due to a £20,000 cash injection, the majority of which is in the form of a local authority grant.

The bespoke tourism company, based in North Berwick, is an official online booking partner of VisitScotland, features about 100 properties throughout Scotland with accommodation options including self-catering, lodges, inns, hotels, B&Bs and glamping sites. It also lists more than 4,000 attractions and experiences.

It has been awarded £15,000 from East Lothian Council after applying for a Business Growth and Sustainability Grant under the Local Authority Covid-19 Economic Recovery Fund. Cassie Bouverie, who set the business up after spending 12 years running her own B&B in Edinburgh and becoming frustrated at losing revenue to third-party sites, is also investing £5,000 of her own money.

She said: “We pride ourselves on offering an authentic and personal local accommodation experience, and this grant will allow us to further enhance that offering. We have a lot of exciting plans, which we can now look at in detail with the good news about our successful application combined with my own investment. These include upgrading our software and building a new framework for owners to create one, three and five-day itineraries.”

'We pride ourselves on offering an authentic and personal local accommodation experience and this grant will allow us to further enhance that offering,' says the firm's founder Cassie Bouverie. Picture: contributed.

Elaine Carmichael of East Lothian Council said Private House Stays “has remained resilient during very difficult times,” adding: “We were impressed with Cassie’s ambitions to develop her business and glad to be able to assist with implementation via the grant [and we] look forward to continuing to work with and assist [the company] and to seeing the results of the support.”