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AR Owner's guide · Dubai · 2026
How to Choose a Holiday Home Company in Dubai
Seven things to check before you hand over your keys, the questions to ask each company, and a plain list of the licensed operators you will be comparing. Written by one of them — so every claim about us links to something you can verify.
A holiday home company takes a furnished home and runs it as short-stay accommodation on your behalf: it obtains the DET permit, lists the home on Airbnb, Booking.com and the other platforms, sets nightly rates, vets and registers guests, cleans between stays, fixes what breaks, collects the money and pays you your share. You keep ownership and the right to use the home yourself; the company runs the operation.
The choice matters more than it looks. Under Dubai's rules the permit, guest registration and Tourism Dirham are legal obligations, and the operator carries them for you — so you are choosing who holds your compliance, not only who cleans the flat. There are hundreds of licensed operators in Dubai, from one-person outfits to companies running hundreds of homes, and the websites all say similar things. The seven checks below are the ones that separate them.
The seven things to check
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DET operator licence
A holiday home operator licence in the company's own name — not just permits for a few units. Ask for the licence number.
Ask: "Are you a DET licensed holiday home operator? What is the licence number?"
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In-house or subcontracted
Cleaning, maintenance and design done by the company's own staff. Subcontracting is not wrong, but it puts a third party between you and the standard.
Ask: "Who cleans the home after a guest leaves — your employees or a contractor?"
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An owner portal you can log into
A live account showing bookings, income and payouts, not a monthly PDF. If you cannot see it before you sign, you will not see it after.
Ask: "Can I log into the portal now, with demo data?"
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The fee model, in writing, before you sign
How the company earns: a share of revenue, a fixed fee, or both — and whether anything is charged upfront. A company that will not put it in writing is telling you something.
Ask: "What exactly do you charge, and is any of it payable before the first guest?"
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Portfolio size and years operating
Scale shows the operation is real; age shows it has survived a few seasons. Look for the number of live listings, not a claim.
Ask: "How many homes are live today, and since when have you operated?"
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Guest reviews across platforms
Read the company's guest reviews on Airbnb, Booking.com and Google — guests review the operation you are about to join.
Ask: "Which listings are yours on Airbnb and Booking.com, so I can read the reviews?"
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Who answers the phone at 11 pm
Short stays generate calls at night: lock-outs, keys, air-conditioning. Find out whether a person answers, and whether it is the company's own team.
Ask: "If a guest is locked out at midnight, who do they call?"
The comparison table
Print it, or keep it open while you call. The last column is our own answer to each check, with a link to where you can verify it.
| Check | What good looks like | What to ask | Deluxe Holiday Homes™ |
|---|---|---|---|
| DET operator licence | A holiday home operator licence in the company's own name — not just permits for a few units. Ask for the licence number. | "Are you a DET licensed holiday home operator? What is the licence number?" | DET licensed holiday home operator; the permit for your home sits under our licence. How we handle the permit → |
| In-house or subcontracted | Cleaning, maintenance and design done by the company's own staff. Subcontracting is not wrong, but it puts a third party between you and the standard. | "Who cleans the home after a guest leaves — your employees or a contractor?" | In-house housekeeping, maintenance and interior design. Property management → |
| An owner portal you can log into | A live account showing bookings, income and payouts, not a monthly PDF. If you cannot see it before you sign, you will not see it after. | "Can I log into the portal now, with demo data?" | Owner portal with bookings, income and payouts. Owner portal login → |
| The fee model, in writing, before you sign | How the company earns: a share of revenue, a fixed fee, or both — and whether anything is charged upfront. A company that will not put it in writing is telling you something. | "What exactly do you charge, and is any of it payable before the first guest?" | Revenue-share, agreed in writing after the property check. No upfront fee. What it costs → |
| Portfolio size and years operating | Scale shows the operation is real; age shows it has survived a few seasons. Look for the number of live listings, not a claim. | "How many homes are live today, and since when have you operated?" | 800+ homes across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Fujairah; operating since 2015. See the homes we manage → |
| Guest reviews across platforms | Read the company's guest reviews on Airbnb, Booking.com and Google — guests review the operation you are about to join. | "Which listings are yours on Airbnb and Booking.com, so I can read the reviews?" | Every home we manage is a live listing with its own guest reviews on the booking platforms. Browse live listings → |
| Who answers the phone at 11 pm | Short stays generate calls at night: lock-outs, keys, air-conditioning. Find out whether a person answers, and whether it is the company's own team. | "If a guest is locked out at midnight, who do they call?" | 24/7 guest support by our own team. Guests, cleaning & payouts → |
Other licensed operators in Dubai
Established companies you will meet in the search results, listed alphabetically. One line each on what they say they do — no ranking, no ratings. Run every one of them, and us, through the seven checks.
- Everluxe — holiday home operator in Dubai that also publishes owner guides on listing a property for short stays.
- First Class Holiday Homes — Dubai holiday home management company offering listing, guest handling and property care to owners.
- Frank Porter — Airbnb and holiday home management operator in Dubai; its website states 650+ properties under management and that it has operated since 2017.
- GuestReady — international short-let management company with a Dubai operation; publishes a blog aimed at owners comparing management options.
- haus & haus Holidays — the holiday homes arm of the haus & haus real estate group, managing short-stay lets for owners in Dubai.
- Houst — UK-founded short-let management company operating in Dubai; positions its service around DET compliance.
- Suiteable — Dubai holiday homes management company; its website states more than a decade of operation.
- White & Co Holiday Homes — the holiday homes division of the White & Co real estate brokerage in Dubai.
Descriptions are taken from each company's own website in September 2026 and may change. Deluxe Holiday Homes™ has no commercial relationship with any of them. If you represent one of these companies and want a line corrected, contact us.
Where Deluxe Holiday Homes™ fits
Since this guide is on our website, here is our own entry, held to the same standard: we are a DET licensed holiday home operator, we have run holiday homes in the UAE since 2015, we manage 800+ homes across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Fujairah, our housekeeping, maintenance and interior design teams are employees rather than contractors, guests reach our support team 24/7, and owners see bookings, income and payouts in a portal. Our fee is a revenue-share agreed in writing after a property check, with no upfront fee.
What we do not print here is an occupancy figure or an income promise — yours depends on the home, the area and the season, and a number that is true for one apartment is misleading for the next. That is what the property check and the written projection are for.
600+ homes are live and bookable today. Four of them, picked at random:
Sea & Mountain Views 6BR + Assistant’s Room Villa, w/ Heated Pool & BBQ Area, Al Dana, SharmSharm
Spacious 4BR + Maid’s Villa, Near Avenue Mall, Cycle Park & Sports Complex – 15 Mins to Downtown DubaiNad Al Sheba
Classic 1BR at MAG 510Madinat Al Mataar
Stunning Studio at Marina Views ADubai Marina
Read more: Holiday home management · Airbnb management · Property management
DET permits and the rules, in plain terms
Who issues holiday home permits in Dubai?
The Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) — formerly DTCM — licenses holiday homes in Dubai. Every unit let by the night needs a DET permit before it can be listed, and the permit must be renewed annually. Listings on Airbnb, Booking.com and the other platforms are required to show the permit number.
What is the difference between an owner permit and an operator licence?
An owner can permit their own units directly with DET and let them personally. A company that manages holiday homes for other owners must hold a holiday home operator licence; the units it runs are permitted under that licence. When you hand a home to a company, check which of the two it actually holds.
What documents does an owner need?
Typically the title deed (or sale and purchase agreement), Emirates ID or passport, a recent DEWA bill, and a no-objection certificate from the building where the building requires one. Tenants who wish to sub-let a home for short stays also need the landlord's written no-objection and a tenancy contract that allows it.
What are guest registration and Tourism Dirham?
Every guest staying in a Dubai holiday home must be registered with DET at check-in, and a Tourism Dirham fee is collected per bedroom per night and remitted to DET. A licensed operator does both as part of the service; if you self-manage, you do them yourself for every stay.
Can I manage my holiday home myself instead of using a company?
Yes. An owner can permit, list and run their own unit. What you take on is the permit, guest registration, Tourism Dirham, pricing, cleaning between stays, maintenance and guest messages at any hour. Owners with one home nearby sometimes do; owners abroad or with several homes generally use an operator.
Run us through the seven checks
Send your property details and an owner team member calls you back to arrange a property check. Bring the questions above — we would rather answer them on the first call than the third.
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