DET licence, tourism dirham, Ejari, NOC, service charge, chiller, ADR, RevPAR: short-term renting in Dubai has its own vocabulary, and half the misunderstandings between owners and managers start there. Here are 22 terms defined in plain English, with the real numbers from our portfolio wherever they exist. To apply this vocabulary to one specific property, the revenue calculator gives the range observed on our comparables.
DET (Department of Economy and Tourism)
The DET, Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism, is the authority that regulates and licenses holiday homes in the emirate. It issues the operating permit, sets hosting standards, collects the tourism dirham and inspects units. Every legal short-term rental in Dubai runs under a DET licence, held either by the owner or by a registered operator.
DTCM
DTCM stands for Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, the former name of the emirate's tourism authority, now the DET. Plenty of contracts, forms and older articles still refer to a DTCM licence. It is the same holiday home permit, issued today by the Department of Economy and Tourism.
Holiday home permit
The holiday home permit is the DET authorisation that makes it legal to rent a furnished Dubai apartment for short stays. It is tied to one specific unit, requires the title deed plus a management agreement or the owner's consent, and is renewed annually. Budget roughly AED 1,500 to 2,500 per year per unit.
Tourism dirham
The tourism dirham is Dubai's tourist tax, charged to the guest and remitted to the authority. For holiday homes it is AED 5 per bedroom per night. It passes through the operator's account, so it never counts as owner income: it is money collected on behalf of the emirate and declared.
Ejari
Ejari is Dubai's official tenancy contract registration system, run by the Dubai Land Department. It applies to annual leases: registration makes the contract enforceable and unlocks utilities, visa applications and internet connections. A short-term rental operating under a holiday home permit is not registered through Ejari, which is a common source of confusion.
Title deed
The title deed is the ownership certificate issued by the Dubai Land Department. It names the owner or owners and identifies the unit, its area and its project. It is the document required to open a holiday home licence file, to sign a management mandate and to prove the property can legally be operated.
NOC (no-objection certificate)
An NOC, or no-objection certificate, is written consent from the developer or the building's owners association. Depending on the tower it is required to operate a unit as a holiday home, to carry out works or to transfer ownership. Some Dubai buildings ban short-term letting outright, so the NOC is the first thing to check.
DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority)
DEWA, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, supplies power and water across the emirate. A unit run as a holiday home keeps its DEWA account open all year in the name of the owner or the operator, with an upfront security deposit. Consumption is an operating cost, never a line rebilled to the guest.
Chiller and district cooling
Chiller is the local word for air conditioning in Dubai, usually delivered as district cooling by a provider such as Empower or Emicool. The bill mixes metered consumption with a capacity charge that is due even when the unit is empty. Some buildings include chiller in the service charge, others invoice it separately.
Service charge
The service charge is the annual fee every owner pays to the building's owners association, calculated per square foot and approved by Dubai's real estate regulator. It funds common areas, security, the pool, maintenance and building insurance. It is payable whether or not the unit is rented, and it comes straight out of owner net income.
ADR (average daily rate)
ADR, average daily rate, is the average price collected per night sold: accommodation revenue divided by nights booked. It measures price level only, not how full the property is. Across our Dubai portfolio the median ADR is AED 269 for a studio, AED 336 for a one-bedroom and AED 522 for a two-bedroom.
RevPAR (revenue per available room)
RevPAR, revenue per available room, is accommodation revenue spread across every available night, whether it sold or not. It equals ADR multiplied by occupancy. RevPAR is the metric that settles the trade-off between price and fill: cutting the nightly rate only makes sense if the extra occupancy lifts RevPAR overall.
Occupancy rate
Occupancy rate is the share of available nights actually sold over a period. The denominator matters: nights blocked for renovation or owner use distort any comparison. Across our Dubai portfolio, median observed occupancy is 86% for studios and 81.6% for one and two-bedroom units, measured on units online for twelve full months.
Gross accommodation revenue
Gross accommodation revenue is everything guests pay for their nights, before any deduction. Whether cleaning fees are included depends on the convention used: our district ranges include them, while the Dubai STR Report 2026 excludes them. Never compare two revenue figures without checking which basis each one uses first.
Owner net income
Owner net income is what actually lands in your account once everything is paid: gross accommodation revenue minus platform commissions, the management fee, tourism dirham, DEWA, chiller, service charge and consumables. It is the only figure comparable to an annual lease. Identical gross revenue can produce very different nets depending on building costs.
All-inclusive commission
An all-inclusive commission is a single percentage of gross revenue covering the whole management service, with no add-on fees. At Medini Homes it is 17%, covering housekeeping, hotel linen, photography, listings, guest operations and maintenance coordination. Management fees in the Dubai market typically sit between 15% and 25%, often with extras billed separately.
Channel mix
Channel mix is how booked nights split across distribution platforms: Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, agencies and direct reservations. It drives distribution cost, since each channel takes its own commission. Across our Dubai portfolio, Airbnb accounts for 91.5% of nights booked, direct bookings 6.6% and Booking.com 1.5%.
Median length of stay
Median length of stay is the middle booking measured in nights, with half of reservations shorter and half longer. It drives operational load: the shorter it is, the more cleans, check-ins and linen changes each month. Across our Dubai portfolio the median stay is 6 nights, which is typical for city short-term rentals.
Lead time (booking window)
Lead time, or booking window, is the gap between the moment a guest books and the night they arrive. A short window forces day-by-day pricing decisions; a long one lets you lock in the calendar early. Across our Dubai portfolio the median booking window is 3 days, which is very short.
Off-plan and secondary
Off-plan means buying a property before completion, paid in instalments tied to construction milestones. Secondary means buying a finished, already-owned unit from its current owner. For short-term rental purposes, an off-plan unit earns nothing until handover, whereas a secondary unit can be furnished, licensed and live within a few weeks.
Freehold
Freehold is the full ownership regime open to foreign buyers in Dubai's designated areas: you own the property and the land outright, with no time limit and a title deed in your name. It contrasts with leasehold, a right to use for a fixed term. Most areas operated as holiday homes are freehold.
Annual lease and short-term rental
An annual lease rents the unit to one tenant for twelve months at a fixed rent, registered through Ejari, with no operating costs for the owner. Short-term renting sells nights under a holiday home permit: higher but variable revenue, real running costs and daily work. Compare the two on owner net income, never on gross.