How to Furnish a Dubai Flat as a Holiday Home

Short answer

Furnish for the guest who will actually book, not for yourself. That means good beds, blackout curtains, strong Wi-Fi, a kitchen someone could cook a week of meals in, a place to work, and enough storage for a month of luggage.

Buy durable rather than delicate, keep the style calm and consistent, and make the flat photograph well in daylight. Then check it against the Department of Economy and Tourism's specification for the holiday home class you are aiming for, Standard or Deluxe, before it is listed.

Unfurnished is a perfectly good starting point. Many owners hand over an empty flat and let the operator furnish it to a standard that has already been tested on guests.

Standard or Deluxe: decide before you buy

Holiday homes in Dubai are classified as Standard or Deluxe, and the department issues a classification for each home. Each class comes with its own specifications and fittings, set out in the department's classification guide, and registered homes are inspected.

The class you aim for shapes the shopping list, so decide it first. A newly built flat with a view, in a building guests already search for, usually justifies Deluxe. A practical studio for longer stays may be better as a well-run Standard home.

The department's guide is the authority on what each class requires, and it changes. Work from the current version rather than from any article, including this one.

Where the money matters

Beds and mattresses come first. Guests forgive a plain sofa; they do not forgive a bad night, and sleep is the subject of more reviews than anything else in a flat. Buy good mattresses, mattress protectors, and two sets of hotel-quality linen for every bed so one set is always ready.

Then the things that make a stay work: blackout curtains in every bedroom, air conditioning that is serviced and quiet, reliable fast Wi-Fi, a desk and a proper chair, and lighting that works at night as well as it photographs by day.

The kitchen is where monthly guests judge a flat. A full set of pans, knives that cut, enough plates and glasses for the number of guests plus a few, a kettle, a coffee maker, a washing machine, and an iron. A kitchen that only looks equipped costs bookings.

Where to save

Decoration that guests do not use. Ornaments, shelves of objects and fragile pieces get moved, broken or lost, and each one is something to clean between stays.

Furniture that only works in photographs. Pale fabrics, glass tables and delicate chairs look good in a listing and badly after a season. Choose washable covers, rounded edges and finishes that hide wear.

Duplicate gadgets. One good television and a reliable connection beat a smart device in every room that needs resetting after each guest.

Furnish for the guests your building attracts

A studio in Business Bay is booked by people working in the city, often for weeks at a time: a real desk, good light, fast internet and a comfortable bed matter more than a dining table for six.

A family apartment in City Walk or Jumeirah Village Circle needs storage, a dining table everyone fits around, and a second bathroom kept practical rather than precious. A villa on the Palm is booked by groups and families who expect space, outdoor furniture that survives the sun, and enough of everything for a full house.

The neighbourhood tells you who is coming. Furnish for them and the flat sells itself in the photographs.

Photographs, inventory and the first guest

Photograph the flat once it is finished, in daylight, with the beds made and the clutter gone. The photographs are the product guests buy, so it is worth doing properly rather than with a phone on a busy day.

Before the first guest, record a full inventory with photographs of every room. It is the reference for every check-out, the basis for any damage claim, and the list a housekeeper restocks from.

Keep a small store of spares: linen, towels, bulbs, remote batteries, a spare kettle. A missing item fixed in an hour is a non-event; the same item missing for two days is a review.

How fäm Living handles furnishing

fäm Living, the holiday homes company of fäm Properties, takes flats furnished or unfurnished. Where a flat needs furnishing, we help furnish and style it to a standard that suits the address and the guests the building attracts, then carry out a full inventory check, photograph it properly and register it for its holiday home permit.

From there we run it: pricing, guests, in-person check-in, cleaning, linen and maintenance, with each owner able to see bookings and statements in the owner portal.