Homes Away from Home

Dubai's property market is a phenomenon as dynamic as it is bewildering to the uninitiated. How does one carve out a niche in such an environment and build a business that not only generates income but transforms perceptions of modern hospitality service? Darya and Evgeny Avilov, founders of Roomy, share their story of transformation from ordinary expats into creators of a thriving short-term rental business.

We always say that Dubai is a city that simply won't let you go. We see it in ourselves, in many of our acquaintances. For some reason, everyone returns to Dubai. And we ended up doing precisely the same thing. Before starting our business, we lived here for about eight years. We decided we'd had enough and returned to Kyiv. But we didn't stay there long.

When we came back to Dubai, Darya was pregnant, and Zhenya decided to try his hand at something new. Previously he'd been managing a restaurant chain, but the night shifts in hospitality didn't really suit us. We had to think about changing direction entirely. In Dubai, wherever you look, your gaze falls upon an estate agent. So Zhenya decided he'd try that field as well. He enrolled on courses with a rather large company.

During his training and after working at this company, he came to realise it was difficult working for someone else under the conditions these companies provided. And this applied not just to the workplace, but to estate agencies generally. We didn't have a clear vision, but we understood we wanted something of our own. We started thinking about renting flats in poor condition, doing them up and re-letting them. One word led to another, one idea to the next, and we increasingly came across advertisements for Holiday Homes.

We ourselves love renting flats when we travel, choosing lovely atmospheric places through Airbnb. And we became so interested in this direction! We arrived at the conclusion that, to avoid large capital investments immediately, it made more sense to sign agreements with flat owners and take them under management rather than lease them ourselves.

We don't work simply as Holiday Homes, but take properties under management, signing contracts with owners that give us complete authority over their flats. We make the decision whether to let them short or long term. We're not limited to daily rentals. We let from three days to a year or even two years. Our clients understand this; sometimes they book for nine months, leave for their own country in summer, and leave their belongings. We're very convenient for clients, providing cleaning services and maintenance. If something breaks, they needn't search for someone to fix it. The owner needn't find a contractor either; we act as intermediaries, discussing all costs with the owner.

Currently we're increasingly moving away from Airbnb and Booking, because they charge high commission of 15 to 20 per cent. We're focusing on developing direct clients. This happens through local platforms: PropertyFinder, Bayut, DoBizzle. Estate agents also bring us clients. They can take commission, but it's not as substantial, around five per cent, which benefits everyone: the agents, us, and the owners.

We have our own website with an .ae domain: Roomy.ae. There's a manager on Telegram and WhatsApp who individually selects flats for specific dates and locations. We've noticed that many people still don't understand what modern Dubai is. Everyone's stuck with the notion that there's only Dubai Marina, the Palm, JBR. But now there are many new communities, for instance Creek Harbour, a new, very pleasant location.

Currently we have around 87 flats in short-term rental and about 15 in long-term, a total portfolio of over 100 properties. We use this formula: we let a flat on a daily basis for the short term, maximise its occupancy and simultaneously seek the best offer for a longer term.

Our commission depends on the property. For penthouses and villas it's lower, because the value of these properties is high. But if it's a flat in Business Bay, the commission is higher, as the margin is smaller. Overall for short-term rental it's from 15 to 20 per cent, for long-term from five to ten per cent. But we're always flexible, discussing details with the owner. We're prepared to reduce commission if we understand our expenses will be minimal.

Most of our clients find us through PropertyFinder and Bayut. We invest a substantial budget in these platforms. Moreover, we're probably one of the few companies working with Ostrovok, Yandex.Apartments and even Avito. We have partners who work remotely in other countries and receive their commission for bringing in clients.

Although we strive for direct bookings, we're also superhosts on Airbnb from the moment we started letting flats. In four years, we have over 1,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.85 out of five. We don't intend to lose this status; it's important to us. If we're talking about the ratio of direct bookings to those through Airbnb and Booking, approximately 60 per cent comes from direct bookings, and 40 per cent through these platforms.

For Russian-speaking clients we have a particular advantage: we work with payment systems through which one can pay with Russian cards, for example through Alipay and Mir cards. We also accept cryptocurrency. In the Emirates it's being rather actively introduced; developers are also attempting to add it as a payment method.

Zhenya and I have ourselves rented flats from our competitors to see how they work. And we can say with certainty that our cleanliness standards are at a very high level. In Dubai this is a problem: dust and everything else. We monitor this very responsibly. We have standards for bed linen, for towels; we never drop below the level we've established.

In all our flats there are good coffee machines, not capsule ones but bean-to-cup. We receive much positive feedback about this from guests. For most of them it's important to get up in the morning and have a good coffee.

We're trying to become more ecological. We're minimising the amount of plastic in our flats, not putting out small disposable shampoos and soaps. Instead, we use 350ml bottles with quality bathroom products. We're removing plastic water bottles, which are usually provided at the start of a stay. Dubai is also moving in this direction, introducing restrictions on plastic bags. Booking promotes this initiative, giving green leaves to ecological listings; we already have three out of five such leaves.

We pay attention even to such details as the colour of washing-up sponges. We replace yellow sponges with grey ones, so they don't disrupt the flat's interior. Such details are very important to us.
The most difficult thing in our business has been staff recruitment. We grew organically, not striving to expand as rapidly as possible. We understood that the team should increase gradually, and in parallel with this growth we added properties.

At present our cleaning is still outsourced, but from Monday we're launching our own. We realised that external staff are difficult to train. They lack understanding of standards. They do the work, but as soon as the door closes, they forget what needs doing. It's the same with maintenance, so we have our own team that keeps the flats in order: handles painting, fixes leaks, replaces boilers, cleans air conditioners. We do all this with our own resources.

Our main philosophy is reliability in relation to investors, flat owners and guests. For investors we're reliable because, if a flat has only just been purchased, we take on the entire process from receiving the keys and staging to interior design and letting. We have a transparent financial system. Every owner has access to the CRM system, where they can see when and how the flat was let, how much they earned. Monthly we send reports and make payments.

Transparency is important in relations with clients too. If we've agreed that they can check in at a certain time, then they check in. The flat is always clean and ready for guests.
We pay particular attention to cosiness. If you look from the perspective of a tourist arriving in Dubai, despite all the scale and beauty of the city, a person comes to the flat to rest and sleep. And when they wake up, the first thing they see is what surrounds them there. One wants it to be something pleasant. We love furnishing flats, selecting little vases, paintings. All our paintings are hand-painted; we don't buy mass-market prints.

We're approached not only by owners but also by estate agents who've become our partners. We've taken the rental segment, whilst they handle sales; it's completely different business. Many sales agents don't want to deal with rentals. We create a symbiosis: we receive flats from agents, they pass them to a good host who looks after the flat, receives good reviews, does the cleaning, provides maintenance.

Our contracts are flexible; they can always be terminated. We don't keep anyone by force. If a client is dissatisfied with our work, we need at most 30 days to dissolve the partnership.
We look at a flat's logistics before taking it under management. Since we're growing organically, we're not prepared to take flats if we cannot guarantee their letting. If we have a dip in some area and flats there are standing empty, we're unlikely to take another two or three flats in that same area.

We also refuse flats in industrial districts; they're cheaper, further away, but logistically inconvenient for us.

If we were giving recommendations to investors, the first would be to find a good broker, an honest one who won't seek only their own benefit. Second, remove from your head the notion that a tourist area means good returns. That no longer works. According to our statistics, the most profitable properties are in residential districts. This applies even to short-term rentals. Such areas dip less in summer, from May to September, when it's hot and people don't want to go to the beach. They don't rise as sharply in season, but they have stable ROI. And of course, the lower the entry point, the better.

Currently Dubai's market is very dynamic. For instance, a year ago in Creek Harbour there were many one-bedroom flats and not enough two-bedroom ones. Now it's the opposite story: there's a shortage of flats with three bedrooms but plenty with two. Developers are changing their strategies, and all this dynamic is constantly transforming.

At the moment many families are moving to Dubai, and there's a significant shortage of premium property. We're one of the few companies collaborating with Jumeirah Group. We have properties in Madinat Jumeirah Living and Marsa Al Arab, which we let. In our portfolio are three and two-bedroom premium flats, and we notice there aren't enough such properties on the market.

We let villas, but we're very careful about short-term rental of such properties. Letting a villa for three days is a strange proposition. We can do this for some event, if, for example, a handbag brand wants to organise an occasion with minimal alcohol and without loud music. But if an unfamiliar guest wants to book a villa for three days, we unfortunately refuse. We place reputation above immediate income. We have a villa on the Palm, front D, a townhouse in Fairmont, and all this is practically always occupied.

It's important for investors to understand the difference between short and long-term rental. In rental, time is money. Short-term rental wins on speed. If you're a flat owner and give us management, most likely within a week we'll have the first guest moved in. At the same time, if you have a good client for long-term rental who's ready to move in immediately, and you're confident they won't have problems with cheques, then let long-term; it's more profitable. We've started dealing with this direction too, because we understand that sometimes long-term rental brings in more money.

Our strategy is that one doesn't exclude the other. We take a flat under management, begin with short-term rental, but when a good client appears for long-term, we switch immediately and remove the property from short-term rental platforms.

When selecting long-term tenants, we naturally check them. For premium properties, a person is easy to find on Google and LinkedIn. We always request ID scans from both sides, enquire where the person works. There's an option to check how many years they've been in the Emirates, though this doesn't always give reliable information.

It's interesting how guests from different countries choose property. The Russian-speaking public likes the sea to be nearby. Although the trend is changing, and people understand they can use a flat not only for holidays but for their needs, which is especially important in short-term rental. The European population looks more at investment characteristics, considers residential areas and studio flats.

If we're talking about nationalities and their preferences, JVC (Jumeirah Village Circle) is much loved by the British, Scots and Irish; for them it's simply their district. Perhaps because that's where the world's largest Irish pub is located. Marina is always interesting; it's associated with Dubai, though it's already rather old. Creek Harbour is currently gaining popularity.

Our observation: Russian-speaking clients choose Dubai Marina and the Palm. We have to explain that there are areas far more interesting, better, newer, with less traffic. We manage to persuade some, whilst others are stubborn: 'Only Marina, and that's that.'

We ourselves live in Creek Harbour and can say it's a really lovely area for families and tourism. There are places to stroll, green zones, good restaurants, a beautiful view of the sunset and Dubai's skyline. As a beach one can use La Mer, though unfortunately it's not popular. Recently they opened J1 Beach. We try to reorient the public towards this side of the city.

More and more people are beginning to love Downtown and Business Bay. Many are opening companies, developing businesses and understanding that this is the business centre, convenient for holding meetings, near DIFC. This area is gaining popularity.

We have most flats in Business Bay, then in Creek Harbour. If we're talking about areas investors should consider, we'd advise not focusing on proximity to the sea; that's absolutely not an indicator in modern Dubai. One could consider premium residential areas. We're drawn to Townsquare, a green, family area with one of the best communities. There's a low entry point and potential growth; correspondingly, rent will also rise. But if we're talking specifically about short-term rental, we recommend Business Bay, because business tourists are the most solvent people.

The most frequent question from our investors is: 'Is the flat let?' For their convenience we have a personal account where all information is displayed. Many owners love this system of transparency. The first fear owners have is that the flat will be let without their knowledge. But in Dubai there are many ways to check this: from electronic locks to applications showing water and electricity consumption. Dubai is a very technological city, and in it it's simply impossible to let a flat illegally without anyone finding out.

We actively use new technologies, including artificial intelligence. Our communication managers employ it as an additional tool when dealing with guests. It's not an autoresponder; AI offers detailed answers based on our previous communications, and the manager decides whether to use this answer or not. Until recently we didn't even maintain social media, surviving on word of mouth. But when clients started asking for Instagram, we had to set one up. And here we encountered all the complexities of organising shoots and budgets. Now we're planning to actively implement artificial intelligence for social media and advertising.

We have our own CRM system in development, into which we've gathered all the necessary tools, both for Holiday Home companies and for clients. In the Emirates there's no CRM system tailored to the local market's specifics. Here there's a cheque system, which is rarely used now. Our development will allow owners to see when to expect the next cheque, receive notifications, and tenants to get payment reminders. The system also includes technical details of receiving and handing over the flat, reporting.

Of course, problems occur in our business. In Dubai unlawful situations arise, and we resolve these matters. Many of our colleagues might throw up their hands if a flat has been seized by irresponsible people, hoping they'll move out eventually. We fight for our properties to the end: we go to the police, to court, hire lawyers at our own expense. We perceive flats under our management as our own and don't want to surrender them to malicious hands.

We have a good lawyer. If someone has moved in illegally and refuses to leave, we act: we get a strong advocate, come to the flat, call the police. This creates a fear factor for the fraudster. With the maximum number of documents, we try to evict them as quickly as possible.

What helped us was that our lawyer speaks Arabic and communicates with the police in Arabic, not English. This way, naturally, it's easier to convey the essence of the problem.
Now much is changing for the better. Recently they introduced mandatory electronic locks for short-term rental. Previously, to evict someone required six months through court. Now there's a tourism department that can make an eviction decision within three days. The lock automatically blocks, and the fraudster cannot enter the flat.

Despite scamming problems, overall, the rental market in Dubai is transparent; there's no taxation, rental gives clean income. Property is growing dynamically in price. This is one of the most interesting markets because it combines business and tourism, which is rare. One can find a tourist country but a poor one, or a wealthy country but without a sea. Dubai unites both aspects.
We're also looking at other emirates, particularly Abu Dhabi. Ras Al Khaimah is also interesting, especially if they build a casino there, but we focus more on resident expats who live for extended periods or constantly return.

Sometimes we receive unusual requests. For instance, recently clients asked for an astrological check of the flat and sent someone for this. Interestingly, the request came from a company renting accommodation for their employee. Guests often ask where the sun rises; for some this is an important moment when choosing a flat.
Amusing incidents occur too. Some clients, instead of photos of documents before checking in, sent a selfie of two elderly women; we simply worded the request incorrectly, asking them to send a photo.

Stories with scams happen as well. Once Italians stayed with us, paid for the flat punctually, but then suddenly disappeared. We had to call the police to check the flat. It was clean, as if nobody had lived there, but we found many branded bags, items, flash drives, computers, boxes with Rolex and Omega watches. It turned out they were fraudsters from Italy who got caught and had to fly out urgently.

Guests often forget things in our flats. Most often, charging devices. There was a couple who left their portrait, painted to order, apparently during their honeymoon. We still keep it in the office, because they haven't returned, and we feel sorry to take such an item to storage. Often, they leave expensive alcohol in sealed bottles, especially Arabs. So, in our office we no longer have a minibar but a proper bar.

We notice that in Dubai there are still outdated flats that let poorly. Most of them are concentrated in old buildings in Marina. Good location, decent building, but the interior is dated. We have to gently explain to owners that trends are changing, and it's in their interest to update the flat. We start small: touching up walls, changing lighting, and then gradually build up to completely changing the interior.

Sometimes an investor doesn't want to spend on updates. Then in some cases we take the initiative ourselves: the company invests money in renovation, and then gradually recoups it. For updating kitchen surfaces, where stains can no longer be removed, we often use film imitating marble or wood; it's budget-friendly and doesn't trouble owners.

Many think that with short-term rental a flat wears out faster than with long-term. This is a great misconception. True, with short-term rental more different people will live in your place, but the flat is constantly cleaned. When, for example, a stag party from Saudi Arabia arrives for the weekend, the flat might end up in difficult condition, but it's in that state for only two days, and we quickly put everything right. The next guest doesn't care what happened before them. But after long-term rental, six months or a year, often one has to do serious repairs, because all the corners are knocked, walls are stained.

Of course, much depends on the management company and the tenants themselves. We ourselves live in a rented flat and in all this time have written to the landlord only twice, about payment, to make a transfer rather than pay by cheque. We do leaks and minor repairs ourselves, because it's simpler that way. Many in our circle do the same. For such cases long-term rental is better, but not all tenants are so conscientious.

When an investor chooses a management company, it's very important to look at reviews. They're difficult to fake. Guests will never leave five stars if they were uncomfortable or something was dirty. We've had cases when cleaners overlooked something, but we always immediately send staff to smooth over the negative impression.

Dubai is developing incredibly rapidly. The property market is growing, and although many say it's overheated, we believe it's greatly undervalued. We travel and notice that the price per square metre on average globally is roughly equal to Dubai's. But where else is there such a level of prosperity and opportunity to earn? Here, working an ordinary job, one can take a mortgage and buy oneself a flat. Not every country makes this possible now. Dubai provides this opportunity, and it's marvellous. The choice of property is also enormous; one can select what one genuinely likes.

We've been here 12 years, and as Zhenya jokes, it's easier to get in than to leave. We packed up twice 'for good', but still couldn't leave this city. Incidentally, when we holiday, we find it difficult simply to enjoy the trip. This summer we decided for the first time in three years to go without our child to Italy for three days, just the two of us. When you enter a rented flat, you start evaluating it with a professional eye. We hardly rested at all, but made many notes for our business.

Currently we're working to make our guests' stay even more comfortable. We're trying to sign an agreement with Emirates and Lufthansa so they give discounts on tickets to our clients. These will be small discounts, around three to five per cent, but still pleasant.

We don't simply let flats; we create comfort for people. We're often asked what our philosophy is in one sentence. For clients it's probably 'Be our guest', as in the famous Disney slogan. We receive guests as we would at home: with refreshments, in a clean, tidy flat, creating the feeling that they've been looked after. And for flat owners our philosophy is reliability, transparency and honesty.
Honesty is generally the key word in our business. It's very much built on trust. It's important not to pester the owner with minor problems but to inform them about serious matters. With guests one must be honest too: check them in on time, provide a clean flat, be hospitable. In short, we're convenient to deal with.

When we look to the future, we see how Dubai continues to change, and we change with it. We plan to expand into other emirates, especially Abu Dhabi, which is already in the pipeline. We're not chasing quantity but striving for quality, so that each of our clients, whether guest or investor, remains satisfied with cooperation with us. Our task is to ensure that both guests and investors get the maximum from this experience. This is what our creed consists of: being honest, caring and professional in everything we do.