New beach hotel planned for Cabo Velas, Guanacaste

A 151-room hotel with restaurants, bar and lounge, infinity pool, spa and convention center is the latest tourism development planned for the Pacific province of Guanacaste. It’s a project of Desarrollos Hoteleros Guanacaste, a subsidiary of local corporation Florida Ice and Farm (FIFCO).

The group announced this week that the new W hotel complex Reserva Conchal Costa Rica has a projected opening date for the second quarter of 2019. The project will be operated by the U.S. company Starwood Hotels & Resorts, FIFCO reported in a press release.

The resort will be located in Cabo Velas, Santa Cruz, some 45 minutes from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia.

The project includes the construction of a desalination plant to supply the new hotel with fresh water.

Businesses and residents in Guanacaste have faced drought conditions in recent years, causing losses in the agriculture and livestock industry.

Despite water supply problems, the tourism industry in Guanacaste has seen a boom. FIFCO currently owns another hotel at Reserva Conchal, the Westin Golf Resort & Spa Playa Conchal, also operated by Starwood since 2011.

International hotel chains plan to open a number of new hotels in the area in the coming years, including Paradisus Papagayo Bay Resort, Marriott Papagayo and the Wyndham Papagayo YU Resort.