FAQ
Questions we get asked
If yours is not here, the team answers the phone.
Booking a stay
- Is it cheaper to book here than on Airbnb or Booking.com?
- You are booking with the company that operates the apartment, so the rate carries no platform service fee on top. The price quoted at checkout is the price charged.
- Are these apartments licensed?
- Yes. Short-stay accommodation in Dubai requires a holiday home permit from the Department of Economy and Tourism, and in Ajman from its Department of Tourism Development. Our homes are permitted, which is what makes your stay legal as well as ours.
- Who will I actually be dealing with?
- fäm Living, throughout. We furnish, clean, maintain and host every apartment with our own team, so the company you book with is the company that meets you and the company you call if something is wrong.
- How does check-in work?
- Someone meets you at the apartment, hands over the keys and shows you around. We do not use lockboxes or door codes as standard.
- What do I need to bring to check in?
- A passport for each adult guest. The UAE requires guests in licensed holiday homes to be registered with the authorities, and that registration is done from your passport details.
- Why is there no price on the listing until I enter dates?
- Because a nightly rate without dates would be a number you could not book at. Rates move with season, demand and how long you stay, and the total includes fees and taxes. Entering dates produces a real quote instead of an estimate.
- Can I stay for a month or longer?
- Yes, and the nightly rate falls substantially as the stay lengthens. Monthly stays include furniture, utilities and Wi-Fi with no lease, agency fee or Ejari registration.
- Is there a minimum stay?
- It is set per property rather than across the board, and the search results show it before you book.
Letting us run your property
- Do I need a licence to rent my Dubai property short-term?
- Yes. A holiday home in Dubai has to be registered with the Department of Economy and Tourism and permitted before it can take a single guest, and operating without one carries fines. We hold the operator licence and register your unit under it, so you do not apply yourself, deal with the portal, or renew anything.
- How much do holiday home management companies charge in Dubai?
- Across Dubai, management fees are usually quoted as a share of what the property earns, and the range is wide because the work is not the same from one unit to the next. We do not publish a single number, because a studio in Business Bay that is already furnished and a four-bedroom on the Palm that needs fitting out are not the same job, and a headline rate that ignores that is a rate you would end up arguing about later. Tell us the building and the unit and we will put the fee, and exactly what it covers, in writing before you commit to anything.
- Is the management fee negotiable?
- Yes. We agree terms per property rather than putting everyone on the same contract, and the number moves with the building, the size of the unit, how much setting up it needs and whether you have more than one. That is also why it is a conversation rather than a price list.
- How and when do I get paid?
- Into your account, against a statement that shows what the property earned and what it cost, so the figure is never a number you have to take on trust. You can see bookings, occupancy and statements yourself in the owner portal at any time. The payment schedule is set out in your management agreement so there is no ambiguity about when money arrives.
- What is the minimum contract length?
- We keep terms flexible and agree them per property rather than forcing everyone onto the same commitment. Whatever we agree goes into your management agreement in writing, including the notice period, so you always know exactly how to end it and what it takes.
- Can I still use my property myself?
- It stays yours. You set the house rules, you block your own dates whenever you want them, and you can see every booking on your unit. Blocking dates in the owner portal takes them off sale everywhere at once, so there is no risk of a guest arriving on a week you wanted.
- Is short-term letting better than an annual lease in Dubai?
- Usually, and not always. A holiday home can out-earn an annual lease substantially in a strong building, because you are pricing by the night against demand rather than fixing a figure for a year — but it carries costs a lease does not, and a quiet season shows up in your income where a lease would not move. It depends on the building, the layout and the season, which is why we quote from what comparable units actually earned rather than from a rule of thumb.
- Which areas of Dubai do you manage?
- Business Bay is our largest concentration and we operate across Dubai, as well as on the Ajman coast. If your building is one we already run units in, we can usually tell you what comparable homes there are achieving before you decide anything.
- Who handles the guests, the cleaning and the maintenance?
- We do, end to end: listing and pricing, guest vetting and communication, in-person check-in, housekeeping between stays, linen, restocking, and coordinating maintenance when something needs fixing. You are not the escalation point at midnight.
- Does my property need to be furnished first?
- No. Furnishing is handled by fäm Interiors, our own interior design company, so an empty property and a tired one are both a starting point rather than a problem. We will tell you what the unit needs in order to perform, and what that costs, before any work begins.