Overview
We run holiday homes in Ras Al Khaimah for owners who do not want to answer a message at two in the morning about the air conditioning. You keep the title, we handle the permit, the listing, the pricing, the guests, the cleaning and the paperwork, and you get a statement every month.
Our fee is 20 per cent of rental revenue. You keep 80 per cent.
We are a Ras Al Khaimah company based in Al Nakheel, which matters mainly because the RAKTDA process, the developer approvals and the reliable contractors are all local knowledge that does not transfer from Dubai.
What we do
RAKTDA licensing. We register the unit on the RAK Holiday Homes system, put the document pack together, get the developer no objection certificate where the building needs one, meet the inspector and hold the permit current through annual renewal. Full detail is further down this page.
Furnishing and photography. If the property is empty, our furniture packages furnish it at a fixed price by size, specified for guest turnover rather than for a photoshoot. Either way, the property is styled and photographed properly before it goes live, because the listing photograph is what decides whether anybody clicks.
Listing on Airbnb and Booking.com. We write and maintain the listings, manage the calendars across both so the property is never double booked, and handle the review responses.
Dynamic pricing. Rates move with the season, the day of the week, local events and what comparable units nearby are actually achieving. Ras Al Khaimah has a pronounced winter peak and a very quiet June, and a flat nightly rate loses money in both directions.
Guest messaging and check-in. Enquiries answered within the hour, check-in arranged, directions sent, problems dealt with. We handle the guest so you do not have to.
Housekeeping and linen. Professional clean between every stay, hotel-grade linen and towels laundered off site, consumables restocked, and a condition check with photographs after every departure.
Maintenance. Routine servicing on the air conditioning and water heater before they fail, and a contractor on call when something does. Anything above an agreed limit comes to you with a quote first.
Monthly statement. Nights booked, occupancy, average nightly rate, gross revenue, platform fees, cleaning, the Tourism Dirham and Destination Fee remitted, our fee, and what lands in your account. One page, every month.
What it costs
Our fee is 20 per cent of rental revenue. There is no onboarding charge, no monthly retainer, no listing fee and no photography fee. An empty month costs you nothing.
Included in the 20 per cent: listing creation and maintenance, channel management, dynamic pricing, all guest communication, check-in and check-out, scheduling and supervising housekeeping, coordinating maintenance, the RAKTDA application and annual renewal admin, the monthly Tourism Dirham and Destination Fee returns, and your monthly statement.
Not included, and paid by you:
- The RAKTDA permit and classification fees, AED 350 a year for a one-bedroom and more for a larger property, plus a one-off AED 100 account registration.
- The Tourism Dirham of AED 15 per occupied night and the 7 per cent Destination Fee, both collected from guest revenue and remitted to RAKTDA.
- Platform commission. Airbnb’s host-only fee is typically 15.5 per cent of the booking subtotal.
- Cleaning, charged per turnover and normally recovered from the guest as a cleaning fee. About 57 per cent of Ras Al Khaimah listings charge one, at an average of roughly AED 419.
- Linen replacement and consumables.
- Utilities, internet and the building service charge.
- Maintenance and repairs at cost.
- Furnishing, if the property needs it.
What a typical unit earns
Read this section before the numbers. There is no published occupancy or average daily rate dataset for Ras Al Khaimah holiday homes. RAKTDA does not release one, and the paid hotel datasets do not break out short lets by community. What follows is our own estimate, built from the one auditable source we could find plus our own booking experience, and every figure is marked for confirmation. Anybody quoting you precise returns for Ras Al Khaimah short lets is guessing too; the difference is whether they say so.
The measured baseline. AirROI’s Al Marjan Island series for the year to October 2025 recorded an average daily rate of about AED 584 and occupancy of 39.6 per cent across 42 active listings, producing average gross revenue of around AED 59,200 per listing. The median long-let asking rent for a one-bedroom on the same island in September 2026 was AED 55,000. In other words, the average short let on Al Marjan Island earned roughly what a long let earns, before any of the extra costs.
That is the number nobody in this market publishes, and it is the reason to be sceptical of anybody promising you 15 per cent returns.
The table below shows what a well-furnished, actively priced, properly photographed unit should do, which is better than the average of a sample that includes a lot of amateur listings.
| 1-bed, Al Marjan Island | 2-bed, Al Hamra Village | 3-bed villa, Mina Al Arab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average nightly rate | AED 450 to 650 | AED 500 to 750 | AED 900 to 1,500 |
| Occupancy | 40 to 55% | 40 to 55% | 35 to 50% |
| Gross annual revenue | AED 60,000 to 100,000 | AED 75,000 to 140,000 | AED 115,000 to 250,000 |
| Long-let asking rent, Sept 2026 | AED 55,000 median | AED 70,000 median | AED 145,000 median |
| Typical asking sale price, Sept 2026 | AED 1,100,000 to 1,300,000 ready | AED 1,250,000 median | AED 3,225,000 median |
| Indicative gross yield on short let | 5 to 8% | 6 to 9% | 4 to 7% |
Two further pieces of context. Ras Al Khaimah hotels averaged 75 per cent occupancy and an AED 618 average daily rate across 2025, which is the ceiling a serviced apartment competes against. And hotel occupancy in the emirate fell about 19 percentage points year on year through the first half of 2026 as international arrivals dropped, with domestic travel up 47 per cent making up the volume. A short let is a tourism business, and tourism businesses have bad years.
The honest summary: a well-run short let in Ras Al Khaimah earns more gross than a long let, and then gives a good deal of it back in platform fees, cleaning, our fee, higher utilities and vacant nights. Model the net, not the gross, and remember that a long let is one cheque and no work.
For context on the long-let alternative, see property management.
The RAKTDA licence explained
Short-term letting in Ras Al Khaimah is regulated by the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority under a Ruler’s directive of July 2017. The permit is called a Holiday Home Permit, it is issued per unit and it is renewed annually. Applications go through the RAK Holiday Homes portal.
Who applies. Either as an Individual Owner or as a Professional Operator. A tenant can apply as an Authorised Tenant, but needs a tenancy contract that expressly permits subletting plus a separate signed no objection certificate from the landlord, and may hold one permit for one unit only. Applicants must be over 18.
Documents. Passport and Emirates ID, the unit’s title deed, a utility bill or official utility document, and a developer no objection certificate where the unit sits under a developer-managed community. A tenant adds the attested tenancy contract and the owner’s NOC. An operator adds its trade licence with the holiday home rental activity, an owner authorisation per unit, and a utility bill issued within the previous 90 days.
Fees.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Account registration, one-off | AED 100 |
| Permit, 1 bedroom | AED 300 a year |
| Permit, 2 bedrooms | AED 600 a year |
| Permit, 3 bedrooms | AED 900 a year |
| Permit, 4 or more bedrooms | AED 1,200 a year |
| Classification, standard or luxury | AED 50 |
| Operator activity fee | AED 1,000 |
A one-bedroom therefore costs AED 350 a year: the AED 300 permit plus the AED 50 classification fee. The AED 100 account registration is paid once, when the account is opened. RAKTDA publishes no separate band for a studio, so a studio is treated as a one-bedroom. Fees are not refundable once a permit is issued.
Per-night and per-booking charges. A Tourism Dirham of AED 15 per occupied unit per night, under Emiri Decree No. 20 of 2015. A Destination Fee of 7 per cent of net revenue, under RAK Law No. 3 of 2021, which must be included in the price shown to the guest and itemised separately on the folio. Then 5 per cent VAT. Both RAKTDA charges are remitted monthly, by the 14th.
Classification. Four grades: standard apartment, luxury apartment, standard villa and luxury villa. Luxury requires larger minimum room sizes, among other things: 15 sq m for a bedroom and 20 sq m for a studio, against 12 and 17 for standard. Owners can apply to change grade later.
Timeline and inspection. RAKTDA reviews the documents in about two working days, then assigns the unit for inspection. The permit is issued after the inspection passes and the fee is paid. Random inspections follow during the permit year.
What the inspector looks for. A fire alarm, fire extinguisher, fire blanket, gloves and torch, a first aid box, emergency and evacuation signage in Arabic and English, a 24-hour contact, the door number, a peephole or intercom, a security chain, a Qibla direction, Wi-Fi, a washer-dryer and blackout curtains. A board must be displayed inside the unit showing the address, classification, permit number, licensee contact and RAKTDA’s number, with the permit and classification certificate on view. Buildings need a guard or camera, a lift at three storeys or more, a parking space and Civil Defence compliance.
Rules. The minimum permit term is three months. Parties and events are prohibited in apartments and villas. The operator to guest relationship is a licence, not a tenancy. Breaches run through a warning with a remedy period of at least 15 days, then cancellation, and a cancelled operator cannot reapply for six months.
The community layer, which is where most plans come unstuck. RAKTDA’s regulatory policy states that contractual provisions or community rules prohibiting owners from licensing units as holiday homes lack legality and recognition. The communities do not all behave as though that settles it.
- Al Hamra Village and Bab Al Bahr operate their own Holiday Home Operation Permit through Al Hamra Community Management, separate from the RAKTDA permit.
- Mina Al Arab lists “commercial activities and short term letting” as a community violation in its welcome pack, with a penalty and a seven-day remedy period, and holds the owner liable even where a tenant is responsible.
- Al Marjan Island has no published position from Marjan itself, so the practical gate is the individual building’s owners association.
A valid RAKTDA permit and a community penalty are not mutually exclusive. We check the position for your specific building before you spend anything.
Our full guide is at holiday home licensing in Ras Al Khaimah.
How onboarding works
- Assessment. Send us the community, the building, the bedroom count and the size. We come back with a realistic revenue range for that specific unit, the community’s position on short letting and what the property needs before it can go live. No charge.
- Agreement and paperwork. We sign a management agreement with the 20 per cent fee stated on it, and collect the documents for the RAKTDA application.
- Licence and preparation. We lodge the RAKTDA application, obtain the developer NOC, meet the inspector, and in parallel furnish where needed, install the safety equipment, and photograph the property.
- Go live. Listings published on Airbnb and Booking.com with pricing set, calendars synchronised and the first bookings taken.
- Running it. Guests, cleaning, maintenance and the monthly returns to RAKTDA. You get a statement each month and a call whenever something needs a decision.
Most properties reach step 4 within three to five weeks of us receiving the paperwork.
Get an estimate for your property
Tell us the community, the building, the number of bedrooms, the size in sqft and whether it is furnished. We will send back a revenue range for that unit, a note on the community’s short-let position, and what it would cost to get it ready.
Call or WhatsApp +971 58 569 4663, or email [email protected].
We manage properties across Al Marjan Island, Al Hamra Village and Mina Al Arab. If you are still buying, see holiday homes in Ras Al Khaimah and apartments for sale in Al Marjan Island.