Most Gulf markets have one or two short peaks a year. Dubai has a season: months in which demand runs high for weeks, with dated events stacked on top. Pricing it well means two layers, a level for the season and sharper rules for the nights inside it, rather than one large premium across the winter.
What the official figures show
The Government of Dubai Media Office, publishing figures from the Department of Economy and Tourism, reported 19.59 million international overnight visitors in 2025. December 2025, with 2.04 million, was the busiest month on record, and the previous record month was January 2025, with 1.94 million, as the 2025 tourism release states.
The same release puts average hotel occupancy at 80.7% for 2025, which is a figure for hotels, not holiday homes. Visitor numbers say when the city is busy; they do not say what a short-term rental earns. For that, compare your nights with listings like yours.
These are JokerPrice's own collected listings for Dubai and Abu Dhabi as of today:
Figures as of 2026-10-29, covering 2 destinations with at least 20 listings. They change as coverage grows.
Collected listings and the median advertised nightly rate before fees, not what guests paid. Each figure links to the destination's research report.
Prices in UAE dirhams (AED), converted from the SAR prices we collect at the fixed rate of 3.6725 AED per US dollar (3.75 SAR).
The Dubai research report adds occupancy and booked rates from tracked public calendars once enough nights have been observed.
The season's dated events
The Dubai Shopping Festival runs . Its first weekend overlaps the UAE National Day holiday, , and the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, . GITEX Global follows on , and schools close for winter on .
New Year's Day, , falls inside both the festival and the school break, so New Year's Eve sits inside three dated entries at once. In Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Festival runs through the whole winter, , as a season of its own.
In 2027, Gulfood moves to , just after Ramadan, which is expected on . The Dubai World Cup races at Meydan on , and the next Dubai Airshow is .
| Event | Dates | Hijri dates | Where | Certainty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheikh Zayed Festival | — | Abu Dhabi | expected dates, may move | gulfnews.com | |
| Dubai Shopping Festival | — | Dubai | official dates | visitdubai.com | |
| UAE National Day holiday | — | All of the UAE | expected dates, may move | u.ae | |
| Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | — | Abu Dhabi | official dates | formula1.com | |
| GITEX Global | — | Dubai | official dates | gitex.com | |
| School winter break | — | All of the UAE | official dates | moe.gov.ae | |
| New Year holiday | — | All of the UAE | expected dates, may move | u.ae | |
| Ramadan 1448 | 1–29 Ramadan 1448 AH | All of the UAE | expected dates, may move | ummulqura.org.sa | |
| Gulfood | — | Dubai | official dates | gulfood.com | |
| Dubai World Cup | — | Dubai | official dates | emiratesracing.com | |
| Dubai Airshow | — | Dubai | official dates | dubaiairshow.aero |
Two details matter for event rules. The Grand Prix is in Abu Dhabi, so the calendar lists it there and a Dubai property does not pick it up automatically; if your guests come for the race, add its nights as a custom date rule. Business events such as GITEX and Gulfood run from Monday to Friday, so their busy nights are weekday nights near the venues, the opposite of a leisure weekend. GITEX's exhibition is at Dubai Exhibition Centre in Expo City this year, so check which venue is near you.
Season first, then the nights
Treat the winter as a season and the events as nights inside it.
- The season. A modest custom date rule over the weeks you expect to be busy lifts the level. With market pricing on, much of the seasonal lift already comes through comparables, so keep this rule small and let the market do the rest.
- The nights. Switch on the culture, sports and business event kinds, or single events, with their own adjustment and minimum stay. When events overlap, JokerPrice applies the largest adjustment rather than adding them together, so a night inside both the Shopping Festival and a holiday is not priced twice.
- Lead time. Guests who travel for an event can book far ahead. A far-out premium keeps you from selling them early at the everyday rate, and a last-minute discount can still clear what is left close in.
- Minimum stays. Two or three nights around a race weekend or a holiday stops single nights breaking up a week you could sell whole. Relax them near the date if nights stay open.
Ramadan sits inside the season in 2027. Demand in Ramadan does not follow the winter pattern, so give it its own rule instead of letting the season rule run through it. The guide to Ramadan and the Eids by country covers those weeks.
Holiday-home rules
Renting out a holiday home in Dubai is a licensed activity. Decree No. 41 of 2013 says no one may lease out holiday homes in the emirate without a licence from the tourism department, now the Department of Economy and Tourism, as the Dubai Legislation Portal shows. Executive Council Resolution No. 2 of 2014 counts holiday homes among hotel establishments, whose guests are charged the Tourism Dirham fee for each night of occupancy.
Fees changed in 2026: in May the government announced an exemption from permit and licence fees for holiday homes, applied over periods of three to twelve months, according to the Dubai Media Office. Check the current terms with the department before you set your rates, since a fee charged per night belongs in the price guests compare.
Checklist
- Set a modest season rule for the winter weeks, and keep it small if market pricing is on.
- Switch on event rules for the dates near you, and add the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a custom rule if your guests come for it.
- Use a far-out premium so event nights do not sell early at the everyday rate.
- Give Ramadan its own rule rather than the season's.
- Recheck the calendar after each announcement: the Eid and National Day dates are still expected.