Buying hotels in Costa Rica is an up-and-coming real estate market for families looking to move to the tropics who want to continue to earn a living while living in their dream location. Properties in Costa Ballena (Dominical, Uvita, and Ojochal) are a hot destination for high-end hotels because they fill the gap in the market between the community benefits of lower-end hostel-type accommodations and the more sophisticated private rental homes that don’t have the social atmosphere that digital nomads and eco-travelers are looking for today. Both hostels and high-end home rentals are abundant in this location and well-run, higher-end hotels with great community areas and amenities that are popular with the growing Digital Nomad tourism market are an opportunity with strong growth potential today.

Hotels in Costa Rica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEORl4wwBrI Real estate inventory in Costa Rica’s hottest tourism destinations is low and prices for homes and land have increased in the last few years. However, hotels continue to be in a buyer’s market because investors are not sure about if they can trust this industry to be a part of the future of tourism in Costa Rica. The pandemic did cause a dramatic decrease in international tourism but opportunities in Costa Rica are very different from what you will find in Europe and North America. Tourism to this biodiversity-rich destination is only just burgeoning when compared to other tropical destinations like Mexico and the Mediterranean, which are more connected to international markets in proximity and international connection ports. Costa Rica's appeal is new, raw, and undiscovered in the global consciousness and it seems that this 'country-less-traveled' is finding itself on every nature and travel lover's bucket list in 2023.  Costa Rica is constantly growing its connections to international airline ports, with direct travel destinations now close to thirty cities around the world. And as this country becomes a more mature market, nightly rates on rentals will continue to rise. Throughout 2022, we have seen record high tourist numbers for the period that is considered the low season. Christine Schiferl from Jaguar Property Management based in Uvita says that a lot has changed in her business in recent years. She says that her company had its best third quarter on record. According to the way this year is tracking, she believes that the coming high season (December to May) will surpass the last high season’s records.  “We are booking in the rainy season, which we have not seen very much in the past. In the past, we rarely had people staying in August, September, October, or November and this year we have quite a number of people coming here and staying in the rainy season,” says Christine.

Investing In Costa Rica

Osa Tropical Properties’ clients reading our quarterly real estate market reports are starting to see Costa Ballena as an attractive place to invest because the numbers are reflecting that reality. The pandemic changed the tourism industry and since many more people don’t need to go to the office to work, these digital nomads (especially those between the ages of 25 - 45) are looking at this period in time as an opportunity to both work and travel. Costa Rica has made this work/travel option easier by offering a residency visa for the digital nomad and by lowering the investor residency threshold to $150 thousand USD makes it much more accessible to a wider market. Families and working individuals looking to immigrate to Costa Rica are wondering how they will cash flow their lives without the option of a nine to five job. One of the key benefits to gaining residency in Costa Rica is that this status makes it possible to operate a company here. Property buyers today are also enjoying Costa Rica’s proximity to the United States makes it feel close to home and easy to get to. There are no “weird laws” here and the country is economically and politically safe and friendly. With the growth in opportunities in construction and tourism, there is great potential for making a business in the fast-casual hotel market. Tech-savvy and energetic persons who are willing to invest in real estate can implement their skills into offering a rental experience that is easy, comfortable, and welcoming to digital nomads and high-budget individual travelers who don’t want a hostel nor a private luxury home. The market for those who want high-end accommodations in a sensational community setting with great amenities and high-speed internet can create opportunities for a hotel business in Costa Rica with scalability and growth potential. Our articles are not real estate investment advice and are only the opinions of Osa Tropical Properties. If you would like more information about why we think that hotels in Costa Rica have great investment returns potential, contact our team at info@osatropicalproperties.com or comment below.