COSTA RICA: Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica In USD 35 Million Transformation

Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo announces a USD 35 million extensive re-imagination that will bring a striking new interpretation of modern eco-luxury and meaningful explorations to Costa Rica’s north Pacific coast in December 2017. Active families and couples, nature enthusiasts, bold adventure seekers and more will discover a world apart at the re-imagined Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica located on a strait of back-to-back sandy beaches within the premier eco-tourism destination of Peninsula Papagayo.

The Resort-wide transformation will begin in August 2017 and encompass the following:

- All 181 guest rooms, suites and villas will emerge as soothing retreats with a seamless visual connection to the flora, fauna and ocean views beyond each balcony or patio

- A redesigned arrival experience with an inviting setting along with a new luxury retail experience

- New culinary concepts featuring locally-sourced organic foods, including three re-imagined restaurants and an all-new Añejo bar and Library lounge

- An enhanced signature pool area with new luxury cabanas, amenities and programming

- A new collection of guest activities and experiences rooted in a deep connection to self and nature

- Experience all that is new with an introductory offer of a USD $1,000 Resort credit with a five-night stay

Design Details

The USD 35 million renovation of Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica will be guided by a locally-inspired yet globally-considered modern design narrative from Meyer Davis Studio.

The renowned New York City-based design boutique will bring a handcrafted approach to effortlessly integrating the Resort’s signature indoor-outdoor spaces with the peninsula’s vibrant tropical landscape so that nature takes centre stage.

Meyer Davis’ design concept of effortless, sun-dappled luxury and modern elegance will play with space, form, texture and light to develop a visual experience that celebrates the rare beauty and alluring mystique of Peninsula Papagayo and the rustic coastal Central American lifestyle.

The new design vision will weave together a soothing, natural colour palette, rich elements from nature, indigenous art and local wood to create an immediate and lasting impression while revealing an ongoing visual dialogue of discovery.

The Resort’s 181 guest rooms, suites and villas will emerge as all-new sophisticated retreats for today’s generation of luxury travellers, with a modern yet locally-celebrated design aesthetic that recalls the intimate luxury, warmth and comforts of a beautiful home space.

Each room’s foundation of new furnishings, natural colours, rich textures and woods, and local elements including artisan pieces and artwork will create a seamless visual connection to the wondrous flora and fauna and expansive ocean views on display beyond each room’s private balcony or patio.

The Resort’s 15 one-bedroom Canopy Suites built into the hillside will additionally feature new plunge pools.

The redesigned lobby will offer an inviting and convivial open-air gathering space that encourages guests to linger longer and enjoy the surrounding nature. The lobby will also be anchored by a new luxury retail experience.

All of the Resort’s five culinary venues will be re-conceptualized with a fresh approach that focuses on locally-sourced organic foods. Highlights include three re-imagined restaurants and an all-new Añejo bar and Library lounge serving artisanal rum and spirits.

The resort’s signature restaurant will offer a new farm-and-sea-to-table concept and a showpiece outdoor kitchen.

A redesigned lower lobby lounge will provide a dynamic gathering space for guests that transitions throughout the day from grab and go offerings in the morning to a relaxed lounge and bar setting during afternoons and evenings. Guests can also enjoy an enhanced steakhouse and an Italian and Mediterranean seafood-focused restaurant.

Flanked by glistening beach and ocean views, the signature pool area at the heart of the Resort will become an ultimate escape for sun-kissed relaxation and social gathering with enhancements including new luxury cabanas, amenities and programming that offer new ways to relax and play.

Guests can also enjoy a variety of only-here experiences across active adventures, culture, wellness, fitness and volunteerism that range from exhilarating manta ray and dolphin expeditions, mountain biking along the Peninsula’s new trail system, surfing trips and yoga practice to experiencing the lives of the local Ticos people through horse riding, cheese making and pottery sessions.

The December 2017 debut of the re-imagined Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica will also signal the launch of a more than USD 100 million investment toward a major transformation of the 1,400-acre (570 hectare) Peninsula Papagayo – one of the premier residential and resort communities in the Americas.

Guided by new ownership led by Miami-based Gencom, a leading international luxury hospitality and residential real estate investment and development firm, the ambitious destination transformation will connect and celebrate the sprawling Peninsula from end to end for the first time.

In addition to the Resort renovation, the first USD 100 million phase will include all-new Peninsula amenities, immersive adventure and cultural experiences and a Peninsula-wide network of more than eight miles of nature trails designed to integrate man and nature and help preserve one of the most extraordinary biological corridors on the planet.



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COSTA RICA: Costa Rica and Nicaragua Work To Offer Tourism Options

Ten Costa Rican tourism companies visited the coast of Nicaragua in the South Pacific this week with the purpose of exploring the tourism offer existent in this area.

According to Jose Adrián Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Companies of Nicaragua, they had organized meetings with Costa Rican and Nicaraguan authorities and planned to visit different beaches and tourist locations in the regions of Tola and San Juan del Sur, including Rancho Santana, Guacalito de la Isla, Playa Hermosa and San Juan del Sur.

With this visit they expect to generate tourism for both countries, in other words, the idea is to promote a multi-destination package. There are big hotel chains that have investments both in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

This is important so that we can come together and develop plans among tourism companies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. This is a result of a past meeting from the private sectors of both countries where we agreed to take actions in this sense, explained Aguerri.

The private sector in Nicaragua has already reported to their Government the need of a establishing a tourism frontier control station in the community of El Naranjo in San Juan del Sur to provide a better and faster service to all tourists coming from Costa Rica.

The President of the Costa Rica;s National Tourism Chamber Isabel Vargas and the investor and former tourism minister of Costa Rica Rubén Pacheco were part of the delegation.

Lucy Valenti, president of the Nicaragua Tourism Chamber, commented that this is an effort to consolidate and strengthen the commercial relations and investments between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, while at the same time looking for more investment from hotels and tourism infrastructure in Nicaragua.


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COSTA RICA: Costa Rica Attracting European Tourists

Increasing numbers of Europeans are boosting Costa Rica's thriving tourism industry, but lagging infrastructure and regional connectivity are crimping its potential, an investment conference in San Jose heard on Friday.

The country stands head and shoulders over the rest of Central America in tourism numbers, receiving 2.9 million visitors a year, many attracted by its eco-friendly image, Tourism Minister Mauricio Ventura told a seminar of French foreign trade advisers from across the region.

Americans account for around 40%. Europeans represent a quarter, but their numbers are rapidly growing following the introduction over the past year of direct flights Britain, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Europeans also spend more time in the country, an average of 18 nights compared to 12 for Americans meaning more tourism revenue.

Other countries in Central America have a great deal to do to improve their images to achieve Costa Rica's level of success, said Thierry de Pierrefeu, former Honduran tourism minister.

He noted that the reputation for violence in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras scares off most tourists.

Pia Lackman, the manager for Air France-KLM in Central America, said her airline had found its new direct flights to Costa Rica to be very successful.

But she pointed out that airlines need a mix of tourism and business travelers on their long-haul flights, and that there were few of the latter flying to Costa Rica.

There was also a lack of connectivity, she said, explaining that the region's flight hub was neighboring Panama, which received far more Air France flights.

The seminar also presented investment round-table discussions, including on public-private partnerships (PPP) to get big infrastructure projects built.

They were needed in Costa Rica because it must be recognized we're a poor country, we're not a country that generates wealth,for instance from oil, said Guiselle Alfaro Bogantes, deputy minister for infrastructure and concessions.

But the attendees were reminded that a PPP to modernise San Jose's airport 17 years ago got bogged down in a costly legal fight between the government and the firm chosen to run it, causing the parent company to go bankrupt.

Round-table participants, among them representatives from France's Treasury and the bank Societe Generale, said the key to prevent such fiascos was to balance risk and the need for private firms to make profit, while clearly defining the policy, legal and technical framework of a project.