For owners
Ahad Residences Business Bay: Holiday Homes
4 min read
Ahad Residences is one of the newer towers in Business Bay, and fäm Living already looks after a holiday home there. If you own an apartment in the building, this is how we would run it for you, by the night and by the month, while you keep the ownership and the income.
Ahad Residences, Business Bay
Ahad Residences is a residential tower in Business Bay by the developer AHAD Group. The homes run from studios to three-bedroom apartments, with modern interiors throughout.
Business Bay sits next to Downtown Dubai, so The Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa are a short drive away, and the district's offices, restaurants and canal promenade are close at hand.
A new building is an advantage
Guests filter for new. Fresh interiors, working fittings and a tidy lobby show in the photographs and in the reviews, and both decide how often a home is booked. An apartment in a recent tower starts ahead of one in an older building at the same price.
It also means many owners are at the same point: keys in hand, an empty or lightly furnished apartment, and a choice between a yearly tenant and short stays. That is a good moment to talk, because the permit, furnishing and photography can all run together.
Who books a home here
Studios and one-bedroom apartments in Business Bay are booked mostly by solo travellers, couples and professionals. By the night that is visitors who want to be near Downtown without a hotel bill. By the month it is people relocating to Dubai, consultants on a project and companies placing staff, and that demand runs all year because Business Bay is one of the city's main office districts.
Larger apartments suit families and colleagues travelling together. We describe and price each layout for the guest it fits best, and we move between nightly and monthly stays as the season changes.
Can I put my Ahad Residences apartment on Airbnb?
Yes, as a licensed holiday home. Every home let by the night in Dubai needs a holiday home permit from the Department of Economy and Tourism, and the building's management has to allow short stays. We check your unit against the building's current rules first, then register it under fäm Living's operator licence as part of onboarding.
Once it is live, we list it on Airbnb, Booking.com and our own site, set the price night by night, check every guest in, clean between stays and pay you out each month.
What fäm Living does for an owner here
We handle the permit, the furnishing and inventory, the photographs and the listings. Prices move with the season, Dubai's event calendar and the length of each stay. Every guest is screened before arrival and checked in by our own team, the home is cleaned and the linen changed after every booking, and maintenance is handled before it reaches you.
Our office is in Business Bay and our teams are in the district every day, in this building and in others nearby such as Elite Business Bay Residence, Upside Living and MAG 318. You see every booking, statement and payout in the owner portal, and you can block your own dates whenever you want to stay.
Short stays or a yearly tenant
A yearly tenant is the simplest choice: one contract, a fixed rent and very little to manage. The trade-off is that the rent stays where it was set whatever the market does, the apartment wears in whatever way the tenant lives in it, and you cannot use it yourself.
A holiday home takes more work, which is what a manager is for. The price moves with demand from night to night, the apartment is cleaned and checked after every stay, and you can block dates whenever you want to stay. Income varies by season, and there are running costs a yearly tenant would normally cover, such as utilities, internet and cleaning.
Many Business Bay owners settle on a mix: nightly guests in the cooler months and monthly guests through the summer. A monthly guest in a licensed holiday home is a booking, not a tenancy, so the apartment comes back to you when the stay ends.
Getting the apartment ready
If the apartment is new to you, start with a room-by-room check for the small faults that are common in recent buildings, such as doors that do not close cleanly, sealant gaps or fittings that do not work, and have them put right before the home is furnished.
Then come the utilities and internet, the furnishing and a full inventory. Guests expect a good bed, blackout curtains, a working kitchen and fast Wi-Fi. If your apartment is unfurnished, that is fine. Furnishing is part of what we do, and we tell you what we would buy, and why, before anything is ordered.
Before you decide
What your apartment could earn depends on its size, floor, view and condition, and on the season. We quote from what comparable homes in Business Bay have actually booked rather than from a rule of thumb.
Our terms are agreed per property and set out in writing after a free consultation, before you sign anything. If a yearly tenant suits your plans better, we will say so.