Notes from the data
Pricing guides for hosts in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Egypt, plus methods, findings and explanations from the JokerPrice team. Posts marked live show current figures each time you open them.
Pricing guides for the region
Each guide takes its dates from the events calendar, with their certainty and source.
Across the Gulf and Egypt
- Ramadan and the Eids across the Gulf and Egypt, country by country
Each country confirms Ramadan and the Eids after its own moon sighting and sets its own holiday days. The 2027 dates by country, who announces them, and how to price while the dates are still expected.
Saudi Arabia
- How to price a short-term rental in Ramadan and the last ten nights
Ramadan moves demand in opposite directions in Makkah and Madinah and in Riyadh and Jeddah. How to set dates, rates and minimum stays from the official and expected calendar.
- Pricing for Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and the Hajj season
The two Eids and Hajj move demand in different ways. How to price the holidays, the school breaks around them and the restricted weeks before Hajj in Makkah.
- Riyadh Season and other entertainment seasons: lead times, minimum stays and weekend premiums
A long season, headline nights inside it and school breaks on top. How to price Riyadh Season and similar seasons without selling the best nights too early or too cheaply.
- Weekend pricing in Saudi Arabia: Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights
The Saudi weekend is Friday and Saturday, but a rental sells nights, and the nights before a day off are Thursday and Friday. Why the weekday shape matters and how JokerPrice learns it.
- Setting base, minimum and maximum prices for a Gathern listing with comparables
How to read the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of nearby asking prices, why asking is not booked, and how to turn them into a base rate and safe limits.
- Orphan nights, minimum stays and last-minute discounts for Saudi apartments and chalets
The single nights stranded between bookings, the minimum stays that create them and the discounts that fill them. How to handle each for city apartments and for chalets.
United Arab Emirates
- Weekend pricing in the UAE: Friday and Saturday nights
Since 2022 the UAE government weekend has been Saturday and Sunday, so the nights before a day off are Friday and Saturday, and in Sharjah Thursday as well. How to set the weekend rule for a UAE property.
- Dubai's winter peak: pricing the season and its big events
Dubai's record months for visitors are winter months, and the Shopping Festival, GITEX, the Grand Prix next door, Gulfood and the Dubai World Cup fill the season. How to price it, and the event nights inside it.
Egypt
- Egypt's two coasts and Cairo: three seasons in one country
The North Coast is a summer market, the Red Sea a winter one, and Cairo moves with museums, conferences and holidays. What official sources say about each, and how to price around Egypt's Thursday holidays.
Methods and findings
- How we turn public calendars into occupancy
No platform publishes booking records, so JokerPrice infers them. Here is exactly how a closed night becomes a booked night, and what we leave out.
- Asking price is not achieved price
Every price JokerPrice shows is an asking price. Why that matters, which way it leans, and how the booked-night ADR narrows the gap.
- Where the listings are: a first look at our Gulf catalogue
How many listings JokerPrice covers, in which countries and destinations, and on which platforms, with live figures.
- Chalets, rest houses and camps: the property mix in our data
Saudi short-term rentals include property types that barely exist elsewhere. The live mix across every destination, and why it changes how you compare.