What Paws & Stay does

Paws & Stay is the UK's first dog-first travel website, founded in 2021 by the team behind the Sawday's and Canopy & Stars brands. Operated by Sawday's Stay Limited (Company No. 13381780) and headquartered in Bristol, the company runs as a marketing and booking agent for a curated, personally inspected collection of dog-friendly holiday properties across the UK, Wales, and Scotland. The platform's core differentiator is its proprietary Dog Inspector Program: every property is visited by a human inspector accompanied by their dog (named inspectors include Lottie, Liv, Bernice, and Arty), and properties are tagged with structured dog-specific metadata, including garden security categories (Secure, Enclosed, Open) and curated collections by dog personality (Adventurers, Snoozers, Forest Foragers, Beach Bums, Multiple Dogs).

The platform is built on a standard online booking stack with calendar sync for property owners, credit-card payment processing via Elavon, and Microsoft Clarity for behavioural analytics. Distribution is direct-to-consumer through the website (24/7 self-serve), a telephone booking line (Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 10am–2pm), and an enquiry form, supplemented by email/newsletter, an active social media presence (over 120,000 engaged followers), and PR earned via the Sawday's Group. The product surface has been expanded across multiple themed sub-categories — luxury stays, cabins, remote cottages, beach properties, hot-tub retreats, and dog-personality collections — indicating iterative depth rather than breadth expansion.

Paws & Stay earns revenue purely on a commission basis from bookings made through its platform; there are no setup fees for property owners, and owners retain the ability to manage their own calendars and take direct bookings. Pricing for guests follows a 25% non-refundable deposit model with the balance due 10 weeks before check-in. The company sits within the Sawday's Group, which is majority employee-owned, 24% owned by a charitable trust, and B Corp certified. Paws & Stay itself has been recognised by B Corp as among the Top 5% of companies worldwide to work for, signalling a stakeholder-governance rather than venture-backed growth model.

Name

Paws & Stay

Legal name

Sawday's Stay Limited

Website

https://pawsandstay.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Paws & Stay is a UK-based booking agent operating a curated, dog-first holiday property platform under the Sawday's Group, serving dog owners and independent property owners across the UK through an inspected collection and a commission-based model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Dog-Friendly Holiday Accommodation Marketplace

SIC

Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000), Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531)

akta.pro primary industry

Pet-Friendly Vacation Rentals (THAGANAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pet-Friendly Homes (THAMAAAL), Treehouses & Canopy Stays (THAMADAC)

Keywords

• Dog-friendly holidays
• Pet-friendly accommodation
• Holiday rental marketplace
• Curated holiday properties
• Travel booking platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Commission on bookings: Paws & Stay acts as a booking agent for dog-friendly holiday properties. The company takes a commission on each booking made through its platform. There are no setup fees or charges for property owners — only commission on bookings. The legal entity is Sawday's Stay Ltd (Company No 13381780), trading as Paws & Stay.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Paws & Stay operates as a marketing and booking agent for a curated, personally inspected collection of dog-friendly holiday properties across the UK. Guests discover and book dog-first accommodation through the company's online platform, telephone booking line, or enquiry form. Property owners list their properties and manage bookings via a dedicated owner platform, with Paws & Stay taking a commission on each completed booking and no setup fees.

Product overview

Paws & Stay is a UK dog-first travel booking platform operated by Sawday's Stay Ltd, serving as a marketing and booking agent for an inspected and curated collection of dog-friendly holiday properties. The platform offers various accommodation types including cottages, cabins, and treehouses across the UK, organized into themed collections (such as Secure Garden, Enclosed Garden, Open Garden, Beach Bums, Forest Foragers, Adventurers, Snoozers, and Multiple Dogs). The company also provides a property owner platform for listing and managing dog-friendly accommodations. All places are personally inspected by the team and their dogs before being added to the collection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Paws & Stay Booking Platform Online booking platform acting as a marketing and booking agent for an inspected and curated collection of dog-friendly holiday properties across the UK. Dog owners search, compare and book accommodations — including cottages, cabins, treehouses and other unique stays — that genuinely welcome dogs, with detailed dog-specific information, garden security classifications, and 24/7 self-serve booking plus phone and email support.
• Property Owner Listing Service Platform service for independent UK property owners to list and manage their dog-friendly holiday accommodation. Includes calendar sync, booking management, access to Paws & Stay's marketing and PR reach (including its 120k+ social media following), and an owner acquisition/support team. No setup fees — Paws & Stay takes a commission only on completed bookings; owners can continue to take bookings elsewhere.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 95% of bookings for some properties come from Paws & Stay (e.g., Logi's Boathouse, Cornwall)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Sawday'scoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPaws & Stay is part of the Sawday's Group of companies, created by the team behind Sawday's and Canopy & Stars. Sawday's has been championing independent travel for over 30 years. Paws & Stay benefits from Sawday's established brand, press reach, industry insight, and operational infrastructure. The Sawday's Group is majority employee-owned, 24% owned by a charitable trust, and B Corp certified.
• Canopy & StarscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCanopy & Stars is a sister brand within the Sawday's Group, alongside Sawday's and Paws & Stay. Both Sawday's and Canopy & Stars have been instrumental in developing the expertise and ethos that Paws & Stay was built on. The brands share principles of character, individuality, and personal inspection of properties.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• PetsPyjamas: UK-based pet-friendly travel specialist offering curated hotels, B&Bs, and holiday properties welcoming dogs. Direct competitor in the dog-first travel niche with a similar booking-agent model and overlap on dog-specific property vetting.
• DogFriendly: UK directory and travel resource focused on dog-friendly pubs, hotels, beaches, and accommodation. Comparable in audience (UK dog owners) and category (dog-friendly travel discovery), though it operates more as a directory than a transactional booking agent.
• Sawday's: Parent-group brand with 30+ years championing inspected, independent travel properties. Operates the same curated-inspection marketplace model that Paws & Stay was built from, providing the operational and brand infrastructure.
• Canopy & Stars: Sister brand within the Sawday's Group offering curated, personally inspected unique stays (cabins, treehouses, castles). Shares the same curation, inspection, and editorial ethos as Paws & Stay, but focused on characterful stays generally rather than dog-first.

Broad incumbents

• Vacasa: Large vacation rental management and booking platform operating across multiple geographies. Overlaps on professionally managed short-term rental distribution but does not specialise in pet-friendly curation.
• Sykes Cottages: One of the largest UK holiday cottage agencies with thousands of pet-friendly listings. Overlaps on UK vacation rental inventory and pet-friendly filter, but competes broadly rather than dog-first.
• Vrbo: Vacation rental marketplace with pet-friendly search filters and significant UK inventory. Comparable as a booking platform for whole-home vacation rentals but not dog-first.
• Booking.com: Global OTA offering pet-friendly accommodation filters across hotels and holiday rentals. Overlaps on UK dog-friendly stays search but lacks the dog-first curation and inspection differentiator.
• Cottages.com: Major UK holiday cottage agency with a substantial pet-friendly portfolio. Broad incumbent offering pet-friendly filters but no dog-first curation or inspection specialism.
• Airbnb: Global vacation rental marketplace with pet-friendly filters. Vastly larger inventory but does not provide dog-specific vetting, garden categorisation, or dog-first curation that Paws & Stay offers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pawsandstaytravel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/paws-stay
• Instagraminstagram.com/pawsandstaytravel

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Paws & Stay