Occupancy, nightly rates and the costs owners forget — a realistic look at short-let yields.
Short-let returns in Dubai are genuinely higher than long-term rent, but the gap narrows once the full cost base is counted. Cleaning between stays, linen, utilities, platform commission, DTCM permits and the tourism fee all come out of gross revenue, and occupancy is seasonal — the summer months do not perform like December.
A useful way to test a property is to model it on a conservative annual occupancy and an average nightly rate taken from comparable units in the same building, not merely the same district. Position within a tower changes the achievable rate more than most owners expect.
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