Dubai short-term rentals, October 2025 to September 2026.
These are market numbers, not ours: the average across the PriceLabs comp sets of the 460–550 Dubai holiday homes we price, set against the same month a year earlier. The comp sets are the competing listings each property is priced against, so this is what operators across Dubai actually saw.
| Month | Market occupancy (last year → this) | Market nightly rate, AED (last year → this) | Market RevPAR vs last year | Booking window | Average stay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 78% → 82% | 883 → 1,030 | +19% | 16 days | 6.5 nights |
| Nov 2025 | 79% → 85% | 989 → 1,147 | +22% | 16 days | 6.7 nights |
| Dec 2025 | 70% → 70% | 1,307 → 1,589 | +19% | 17 days | 5.6 nights |
| Jan 2026 | 78% → 79% | 980 → 1,196 | +19% | 15 days | 6.4 nights |
| Feb 2026 | 85% → 78% | 952 → 1,035 | −2% | 16 days | 7.4 nights |
| Mar 2026 | 69% → 46% | 771 → 861 | −31% | 9 days | 6.2 nights |
| Apr 2026 | 86% → 49% | 790 → 690 | −54% | 7 days | 8.6 nights |
| May 2026 | 71% → 64% | 660 → 648 | −19% | 6 days | 8.3 nights |
| Jun 2026 | 64% → 65% | 581 → 607 | −1% | 7 days | 8.7 nights |
| Jul 2026 | 63% → 65% | 536 → 602 | +10% | 8 days | 8.3 nights |
| Aug 2026 | 67% → 66% | 578 → 594 | −1% | 8 days | 8.2 nights |
| Sep 2026 | 73% → 68% | 681 → 708 | −4% | 9 days | 8.4 nights |
Source: PriceLabs comp-set data for RevOpt-managed Dubai listings, October 2025–September 2026, each month against the same month a year earlier. Booking window and average stay are this year's market averages. Months still being booked are not shown.
What the wider Dubai market says.
PriceLabs comp sets show the listings ours compete with directly. Airbtics tracks every active short-term rental in each market, so it's a useful cross-check on the whole picture: median occupancy and nightly rate for Sep 2025–Aug 2026 against the twelve months before, and the change in the number of active listings.
| Market | Median occupancy (prior 12 mo → last 12 mo) | Median nightly rate, USD | Active listings, year on year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai (1–2 bed) | 81% → 68% | $176 → $179 (+2%) | −16% |
Source: Airbtics market data (Sep 2025–Aug 2026; averages of monthly medians; nightly rates in USD as Airbtics reports them). More supply (red) means more competition.
Five things that move revenue in Dubai.
1. The month is decided in the last two to three weeks
The market's average booking window ran 6–17 days over the year. Most nights are sold late, so pricing has to be checked against pace every week. Too high three weeks out and the nights go to the building next door; too low and you've sold peak dates at shoulder rates.
2. Rates have to double, then halve, every year
Market nightly rates ran about AED 1,000–1,600 from October to February, peaking in December, and about AED 600 in summer. A single base price with automatic seasonality rarely tracks a swing that large. Each season needs its own base, floor and minimum stay, and they should be reviewed before the season starts, not after.
3. Stays are long, so length-of-stay pricing matters
The average stay was 5.6–8.7 nights, longest in summer. Weekly and monthly discounts, minimum stays and orphan-night gaps between bookings move more revenue here than in most city markets. Set them wrong and you either block valuable long stays or fill the calendar with cheap ones.
4. Events are worth planning months ahead
New Year's Eve, the Dubai Shopping Festival, GITEX in October and the Dubai Airshow in odd-numbered Novembers all lift demand on predictable dates. The premium is captured by operators who price those dates early and hold, rather than react when the calendar fills.
5. When the whole market drops, respond with structure, not just price
March–April 2026 showed it: when demand falls everywhere at once, across-the-board cuts just match the market down. Length-of-stay offers, mobile and member rates on the right channels, and protecting the dates that will still sell hold more revenue than a flat discount.
Holiday homes, Dubai: +24.5% in peak season.
The same nine listings, January–March 2026 against January–March 2025. January and February were up 46% and 54% as occupancy climbed from the 60s into the 80s. In March they fell with the rest of Dubai. Read the full case study →
A revenue manager for your holiday homes.
What you get
- A named revenue manager who prices every unit, every day, inside your PriceLabs, with Guesty, Hostaway or your PMS
- Revenue projections for every listing, agreed with you up front
- A weekly pace check against the market, and event calendars for Dubai and Abu Dhabi
- Booking.com and Airbnb promotions managed so they lift revenue instead of eroding rate
- Monthly reporting in AED, ready to share with owners
Who it's for
- Holiday-home operators with 10+ units, or AED 3.7M+ a year in bookings
- Teams that answer to owners and need a number they can stand behind
- Under 10 units? RevBnB, our AI pricing manager, is built for you
Dubai operators already working with us say it in their own words on the homepage.