Slated to open in 2016 is the National Congress and Convention Center, Costa Rica’s first major stand-alone event space. Located about 20 minutes northwest of San Jose, the facility will measure more than 161,000 square feet, with exhibition areas, conference rooms, outdoor event space, a media room, dining and service areas and a restaurant. The convention center will accommodate groups of 10 to more than 3,000 attendees for conventions and exhibitions.
AMResorts celebrated its debut in Costa Rica with the November 2014 opening of Dreams Las Mareas Costa Rica (www.dreamsresorts.com), in Guanacaste. The 447-room, all-inclusive beach resort, which is about 90 minutes from the Guanacaste airport in Liberia, sits on El Jobo beach and is close to Guanacaste and Santa Rosa national parks. The property has a convention center that accommodates 520 people, with three boardrooms and a business center. Also on-site is a spa and fitness center, five a-la-carte restaurants, casual dining venues, a children’s club for kids age three to 12 and a teen club for kids age 13 to 17.
Also new on the hotel scene is the Alta Gracia (www.altagracia.cr), a member of Leading Hotels of the World, which opened this year in the mountains of Perez Zeledon, in the southern region of the country. The “boutique hacienda” property has its own airstrip and helipad, reached by 25-minute private flight from the San Jose airport. Its 50 casita-style accommodations range in size from 1,173 to 2,346 square feet, and the property has more than 27,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space.
Several more new hotels are in the works for 2015 and 2016. Due to open in February is the 152-room Croc’s Casino Resort (http://crocscasinoresort.com) in Jaco, which will have three restaurants and what’s billed as a “Las Vegas-style” casino. The 118-room Hilton Garden Inn San Jose Sabana (www.hilton.com), which is part of the Sabana Business Center in the capital region, will have more than 10,000 square feet of meeting space. The all-inclusive Paradisus Papagayo Bay (http://paradisus.com), which replaces the brand’s Paradisus Playa Conchal in Guanacaste, will have 19,000 square feet of meeting space. Also opening soon is the 151-room Wyndham Yu Resort in Guanacaste, which will become the third Wyndham property in Costa Rica when it debuts later this year.