Serviced units sell for about 33 per cent more than comparable unbranded homes worldwide, and 39 per cent more in resort locations (Savills, 2025 report). The number behind the number: that premium is measured at launch, not at resale. No audited resale premium has ever been published.

So the serviced vs non-serviced apartments question has a precise answer. You pay roughly a third more for a management contract and a licence. It is worth it when you use the service and hold the liquidity, and expensive when you pay for both and use neither.

International hospitality brands in Ras El Hekma

What Makes an Apartment “Serviced”?

A serviced unit is a home attached to an operator: housekeeping, maintenance, security and concierge to hotel standard, billed through the annual charge. A normal unit gives you the same four walls and leaves the running of it to you. Three products get sold under one word:

The distinction that matters most: a licence is a name on the building. A management contract is people in the building. The premium is often quoted as if both applied when only one does.

Who Brought Serviced Living to Egypt’s Coast?

The category is older in Egypt than most buyers assume. Marriott ran serviced suites in Hurghada from the mid-1990s. On the Mediterranean, Talaat Moustafa’s Four Seasons San Stefano in Alexandria arrived in 2007. ALJAZI, with JW Marriott, markets itself as Egypt’s first branded residences from 2020.

Emaar’s contribution at Marassi is larger than a first. Emaar brought Address and Vida to the North Coast and built the integrated resort-town model the rest of the coast is copying: hotels, marina, golf and residential villages planned as one destination rather than a compound with a beach. The branded units inside Address Beach Resort and Address Marassi Golf Resort are operator inventory, so they are a hospitality product. The wave arriving now is the opposite: homes sold to private buyers, with the hotel attached.

Which Serviced Residences Are Coming to Ras El Hekma?

Between May and August 2026 the coast picked up more hospitality brands than in the previous decade. The pipeline as of September 2026:

Two notes. Hotel Indigo at Mountain View is that brand’s first residence in the world, putting Ras El Hekma ahead of Dubai and Miami. Sachi Living at The Med comes from Baky Hospitality (founder Ayman Baky) and is residential rather than a hotel, so its service model differs from the operator-run schemes above.

Nobu Ogami by SODIC

Nammos Ras El Hekma

Montage Ras El Hekma

How Much More Does a Serviced Unit Cost to Buy?

Savills puts the global premium at 33 per cent over comparable non-branded stock: 39 per cent for resort schemes, 30 per cent for urban ones. Across the Middle East and Africa it reaches 44 per cent.

The counterweight rarely appears in a sales deck. Graham Associates records London branded stock under 10 per cent, and New York branded stock at a discount in some cases. That headline is an average across a wide spread, not a floor.

There is no published Egypt-specific premium. Any agent quoting you a precise Egyptian figure is quoting a developer, not research.

What Does a Serviced Unit Cost You Every Year?

This is where the maths turns. The purchase premium is paid once. The charge is paid forever.

No Egypt-specific branded charge has been published. Dubai numbers do not carry across, because Dubai has a regulated index and Egypt does not. Ask for the projected charge per sqm in writing, with the escalation clause.

On a home at 30 million EGP, 1 to 2 per cent a year is 300,000 to 600,000 EGP, before 14 per cent VAT. Weigh that against the weeks you will use.

If You Rent It Out, How Much Do You Keep?

Less than the pitch suggests. Published research puts the owner’s share of rental revenue at 40 to 60 per cent, with the operator taking 25 to 50 per cent of gross income before costs.

The 70/30 split quoted across the market appears in no credible published source. The evidence clusters between 50/50 and 60/40 in the owner’s favour. Owner usage allowances run 30 to 60 days a year, and pool participation is compulsory in many schemes, so a home you assumed you could use in August may be committed.

No Egypt-specific split has been published. Get yours in the contract, with the blackout calendar attached.

What Happens If the Brand Leaves?

Buyers rarely ask, and it carries the most money. Management agreements have terms, brands can exit, and owners generally hold no contractual right to brand continuation.

The best-documented case is the Trump-branded Manhattan condominiums, analysed by Columbia economist Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh and reported in February 2024. Before 2016 those units sold at a 1 per cent premium. After 2016 they sold 4 per cent below comparable stock, and the seven buildings that kept the name lost 23 per cent in price per square foot between 2013 and 2023.

The reverse happens too. Trump SoHo, rebranded The Dominick in 2017, saw its average daily rate rise around 20 per cent against a set that moved 2 per cent.

Brand affiliation is a variable, not a floor. Know the term length of the agreement before you pay a premium for it.

The D5 Realty View

Buy serviced if you are away most of the year, want the home maintained without your involvement, and value the resale audience an operator brings. Lock and leave earns its keep on a coast where a closed house degrades fast in salt air.

Buy non-serviced if you use the home through the season and are buying on price per sqm. Where land and view drive the appreciation, an unbranded home in the better location often beats a branded one in the weaker spot.

The question to ask at the sales office: is this a licence or a management contract, and for how many years? Then get the charge per sqm, the rental split, the usage days and the blackout calendar in writing. Contact D5 Realty and we will put those questions to the developer with you.

Final Word

A brand on the door buys a standard of service, a resale audience and someone else’s problem list. It does not buy a guaranteed premium, and never a permanent one. The serviced vs non-serviced apartments decision is one honest calculation: the weeks you will use, against the charge you pay for the ones you will not. Contact D5 Realty and we will run that number before you commit.

Ras El Hekma investment guide

The Med by People & Places

Frequently Asked Questions

• Are serviced apartments worth the extra cost in Egypt?

It depends on usage. The global premium is 33 per cent at launch, 39 per cent for resort schemes, and annual charges run 1 to 2 per cent of value. If you visit a few weeks a year and want the home managed, it works. If you live in it, you pay for service you already provide.

• What is the difference between serviced and non-serviced apartments?

The first is run by an operator providing housekeeping, maintenance, security and concierge, billed through the annual charge. The second leaves management to the owner and the community association. Some schemes carry only a brand licence with no operator on site, which is a third product entirely.

• Did Emaar start serviced residences in Egypt?

No. Marriott ran serviced suites in Hurghada from the mid-1990s, and Four Seasons San Stefano in Alexandria opened in 2007 under Talaat Moustafa. Emaar’s contribution at Marassi was bringing Address and Vida to the North Coast and building the integrated resort-town model the coast now follows.

• How much of the rental income does the owner keep?

Published research puts the owner share at 40 to 60 per cent of rental revenue, with operators taking 25 to 50 per cent of gross income. The 70/30 split often quoted in Egypt does not appear in any credible published source. No Egypt-specific figure has been published, so get yours in the contract.

• Which branded residences are coming to Ras El Hekma?

As of September 2026: Nobu at SODIC Ogami, Montage and Nammos at Modon Wadi Yemm, Ritz-Carlton and Sachi Living at The Med, Hotel Indigo at Mountain View, Autograph Collection at Solare and Swissôtel at NAIA Bay. The Hotel Indigo scheme is that brand’s first residence worldwide.