Short-Term vs Long-Term Rental in El Gouna — Which Strategy Is Right for You in 2026
By the Jeeran Team — El Gouna, Red Sea
If you own a property in El Gouna or Makadi Heights, there is one question we hear more than any other right now:
"Should I stick with short-term rentals, or make the switch to long-term?"
It is a fair question — and for the first time in years, the answer is no longer obvious.
Long-term rental rates in El Gouna have grown at a pace that very few owners anticipated. A 1-bedroom apartment in Mangroovy that was leasing for $600 a month two years ago is now commanding $900 to $1,000. In some neighbourhoods, the numbers have shifted so significantly that a well-managed long-term lease can now outperform short-term rental income — even at healthy occupancy levels.
We built something to help you figure out exactly where your property stands.
Introducing the Jeeran Rental Income Calculator
We recently launched a free, interactive income calculator built specifically for El Gouna and Makadi Heights property owners.
It takes less than 30 seconds to use. You select your location, your unit type, and your expected occupancy level — and it gives you a side-by-side comparison of what your property could earn under each strategy, with every fee accounted for.
Here is what the calculator factors in:
Short-term: actual nightly rates by location and season, Airbnb fees (18%), Jeeran management fee (20%), utilities and maintenance costs
Long-term: current market lease rates by neighbourhood, Jeeran management fee (9%), with utilities and maintenance covered by the tenant
At the end, you get a personalised recommendation from the Jeeran team — not a generic output, but a honest assessment based on the numbers.
What the Numbers Are Actually Telling Us
To give you a sense of the real-world picture, here is what the comparison looks like for a 1-bedroom apartment in Mangroovy on an average occupancy scenario:
Short-term rental (30 high season nights + 100 low season nights):
Gross revenue: ~$8,070
After Airbnb fees, Jeeran fee and expenses: ~$6,503 net to owner
Long-term lease ($950/month average):
Gross annual revenue: $11,400
After Jeeran fee, with utilities paid by tenant: ~$10,374 net to owner
The difference on this scenario: +$3,871 per year in favour of long-term.
That gap only widens at lower occupancy levels — and it only closes if you are consistently booking above average. Our calculator lets you model all three scenarios — low, average and high occupancy — so you can see where your property realistically sits.
So Should You Switch?
Not necessarily. The right answer depends on more than just the numbers.
Short-term rental gives you something long-term cannot: the freedom to use your own property. You can block weeks for family, host friends, and adjust availability whenever you like. For many owners, that flexibility has real value that does not show up in a spreadsheet.
Here is how we think about it:
Stay short-term if the gap is small (under 10%) — the flexibility is worth more than the difference.
Think carefully if the gap is between 10% and 20% — this is genuinely a personal decision and we are happy to talk it through.
Seriously consider switching if the gap is above 20% — the revenue difference is significant enough that it deserves a real conversation.
The calculator handles all of this automatically. It reads the gap and gives you a recommendation accordingly.
New: The Calculator Is Now Available in French
El Gouna attracts a significant number of French and Belgian visitors — and increasingly, French-speaking property owners. We have made the calculator fully bilingual, with a single click to switch between English and French throughout.
Every label, recommendation and piece of copy has been written in natural European French — not machine-translated. The Jeeran recommendation section in particular was written to feel like advice from a trusted local partner, because that is what it is.
What Else Is New at Jeeran
A few other things worth knowing:
We now cover Makadi Heights. If you own a property in Makadi, we manage both short-term and long-term rentals there. Rates and demand have grown steadily and it is now a meaningful part of our portfolio.
Our management fee for long-term rentals is 9%. This is deliberately lower than our short-term rate — it reflects the reduced operational load of a long-term lease. No guest turnover, no cleaning coordination, no dynamic pricing. You get predictable monthly income and we handle tenant relations, contracts and maintenance.
The owner app is live. Every Jeeran owner has access to a real-time dashboard on iOS and Android showing bookings, revenue, occupancy and maintenance updates. If you are not using it yet, ask us to walk you through it.
Ready to See What Your Property Could Earn?
The calculator is free, takes 30 seconds, and is built on real data from our active portfolio in El Gouna.
→ Calculate your rental income
Or if you would rather talk it through directly, our team is available on WhatsApp seven days a week.
Jeeran El Gouna is a premium property management company based in El Gouna, Red Sea, Egypt. Founded in 2019, we manage 40+ properties across El Gouna and Makadi Heights and are a 6-time consecutive Airbnb Superhost.
