BUILDING RESILIENCE IN DUBAI’S EVOLVING SHORT-TERM RENTAL MARKET

Exclusive interview with Rohollah Rohparwar, Managing Director & Founder, First Class Property Management

As the Managing Director and Founder of First Class Property Management, how would you define your core role in shaping the company’s strategic direction?

Luis Santos and I are equal business partners and co-founders of First Class. We have known each other since 2018, when we worked together at a leading management consultancy firm and collaborated on major transformation projects across the petrochemical, automotive, and hospitality industries.

That background in engineering and industrial transformation is the blueprint for how we run First Class.

We share a strong mutual respect and operate with complete parity. There is no fixed division of responsibilities; every key decision is discussed and evaluated together to ensure the best possible outcome. This collaborative approach has been fundamental to our success, enabling First Class to become the market leader in both quality and volume, as well as the most trusted partner for short-term lets in the UAE.

We remain deeply hands-on in all areas of the business and are actively involved in its daily operations, 24/7. Our role is to ensure our ‘Operating System’ stays agile enough to handle a fast-growing portfolio while maintaining the highest review scores in the region.

What inspired you to establish First Class Property Management, and what gap in the market were you aiming to address?

My path to real estate was somewhat unconventional. I began my career as an aeronautical engineer at Airbus, working as an internal Lean consultant on the company’s long-range program, which included the A380, before moving to the UAE and entering management consultancy. When I looked at the Dubai property market, I didn’t see it through the lens of a traditional landlord. I saw it as a massive, complex system that lacked technical precision.

The gap was clear: Most property management was reactive, relying on manual processes, vibes, and gut feel rather than data-led strategy. There was a lack of professional-grade operations capable of managing the entire value chain in-house. I wanted to bring in engineering logic, treating a property portfolio like a high-performance aircraft where every part of the system works in harmony, offering investors a level of stability and ROI that simply wasn’t available from fragmented, smaller operators. We moved away from being just a rental agency to becoming a vertically integrated ‘Operating System’ for real estate.

As a long-standing player in the market, how have you seen investor expectations evolve over the past few years?

When I moved from Germany to the UAE in 2014, my friends and family were shocked by my decision. Dubai and the UAE were still relatively unknown, especially compared to today, while Germany was considered the benchmark for a strong economy and stable political environment.

Over the past decade, however, the situation has changed dramatically. The same circle that once questioned my move are now eager to relocate to the UAE as quickly as possible. Investors who previously lacked confidence in the UAE property market are now entering with full conviction. Everyone wants to be part of Dubai’s remarkable success story.

Tourism-driven sectors often experience fluctuations tied to global events. How can property stakeholders build resilience against such volatility?

Resilience in this market comes down to one thing: vertical integration. If you rely on third-party contractors for your cleaning, maintenance, and laundry, you are vulnerable to their price hikes and their timelines. When a global event disrupts the market, those external costs don’t disappear just because your occupancy has dropped.

Stakeholders need to own the “shield” that protects their assets. At First Class, we internalized our entire supply chain. Because we own our laundry facilities and our maintenance teams, we were able to re-engineer our operational costs by 90% at the very start of the current regional situation. This allowed us to keep investor payouts on time and in full even when average daily rates were under pressure. For me, resilience means building a business structure that can pivot its cost base in 24 hours.

Can you share how leveraging data and market insights helps property managers and investors make more informed decisions during periods of disruption?

Data is the only way to separate reality from the headlines. During the disruptions of early 2026, the general sentiment was one of panic, but we focused on the methodology behind the numbers. For instance, while official registration data showed a 0.5% price increase in March, we knew that was a lagging indicator. Real-time valuation data, like the ValuStrat VPI, showed a 5.9% price correction.

Understanding this “registration lag” is critical for investors. It allowed us to see that the market was re-pricing instantly, which actually created a floor for capital to return. By April, transaction volumes surged by 20% to AED 68.56 billion as investor conviction returned.

On the operational side, our data identified the “Resident Migration” early on. While the tourist booking window collapsed to under three days, demand for stays of 29 nights or more skyrocketed, eventually making up over 90% of our bookings. By shifting inventory immediately to capture this resident demand, we were able to drive occupancy back up to 85% (and we are targeting 90% for May) while the wider market struggled at 20%. This level of market intelligence allows us to inform investors exactly where to put their capital, specifically in prime hubs like Downtown and Dubai Marina, which our 12-year dataset proves recover 30% faster than emerging areas, to ensure a safe landing regardless of the external noise.

In your opinion, how does the role of adaptability and data-led decision-making in maintaining performance during uncertainty?

Adaptability is often mistaken for guesswork, but true adaptability is actually a very disciplined process. In a volatile environment, a wait-and-see approach is often a strategy for failure. You have to be able to re-model your entire business in a single day.

During this period, we rebounded to 85% occupancy while the wider market struggled at 20%. That didn’t happen by accident. It was the result of using data to bridge the gap between what the market used to be and what it is now. We introduced flexible packages with full refunds and weekly payment options because the data told us that guests were seeking liquidity above all else. When you combine that kind of flexibility with a vertically integrated operation, you create a system that can withstand a stress test. Uncertainty is always part of the market, but data provides the structural support to navigate it.

What role will technology and AI play in shaping the future of real estate operations?

AI has become the most critical focus in our operations. Recently, I attended two major industry exhibitions in London, where I had the opportunity to experience live demonstrations of the latest AI agents. I was genuinely impressed by their advanced capabilities.

We are now actively implementing AI agents across all areas of our business. This strategic move allows us to efficiently manage our fast-growing portfolio without expanding our team. AI agents are helping us minimize errors, respond to guest and client requests within minutes, and significantly enhance customer satisfaction, which ultimately drives higher sales.

Furthermore, back-office operations such as payroll, financial statements, insurance management, listing optimization, and many other tasks are now being handled by AI agents. It represents a true step change for both First Class and our sector as a whole.