El Sueño Tropical Boutique Hotel — Playa Carrillo, Guanacaste

A 12-key boutique hotel on 8,271 m² of land between the jungle and the Pacific, 2.5 km from Playa Carrillo — one of the quietest white-sand beaches in Guanacaste — and 7 km from the surf town of Sámara. Renovated and repositioned in 2022, trading since then, debt free since the mortgage was cleared in February 2025, and sold with clear title.

This is a finished, working hotel rather than a project. Six buildings sit on 8,271 m² of land — about 0.83 of a hectare across three registered lots, one of which is still undeveloped and sits on the far side of the property. That figure is the land after the 519 m² apartment lot was split off on its own title in 2024, and it comes from the registered survey plans rather than an estimate. Ask us for the plano and finca numbers. Everything runs on a private water well, and the pool pump and filtration were replaced new in 2026.

Twelve guest units — four Standard rooms, four Standard Plus, three Deluxe and one studio apartment with a kitchen. Every unit has a private bathroom, Smart TV, high-speed Wi-Fi, a mini fridge and air conditioning. That is 23 guests at one person per bed, and up to 37 at full double occupancy.

Sharing the site are four two-bedroom Derecho apartments, each with a full kitchen and living room. These four apartments are not part of the sale — they sit on their own separate title, outside this property's survey plan, and belong to four other owners who use them only once or twice a year. They are managed and rented out through the hotel, which earns commission and common fees on them, and they give the hotel extra rooms to sell when a big group books. With those units in play the site can sleep 35 to 53 people, which is the kind of capacity that wins weddings, retreats and corporate groups.

• Large swimming pool and a separate children's pool
• Restaurant, bar, dance floor and event space — built, equipped and permitted
• Covered outdoor kitchen and barbecue area
• Reception, gift shop, laundry, two parking areas and a 20-foot storage container
• Mature tropical gardens, private water well, clean title, no debt

The handover is genuinely turnkey: all furnishings and equipment down to the room-by-room inventory, the website, branding and social accounts, the channel manager and the OTA accounts (Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb, Agoda, Hotels.com, Kayak, Trip.com, Google Hotels), the supplier relationships, the transferable permits, and the seller's accountant and lawyer contacts. The team — manager, on-site host, housekeeping, cook, gardener and maintenance — is willing to stay through the transition.

The property is held in a Costa Rican company, so the sale can be handled either as a transfer of the company or as a straight property purchase — that, and exactly what is included, is negotiable between buyer and seller. Title is clear and the property is free of liens, with the registry history available to a buyer in due diligence.

Reopen the restaurant. The kitchen, bar, dance floor and permits are all there; the restaurant was simply closed to cut overheads in the low season. Groups, weddings and retreats are the property's highest-value business and they are booked around a working restaurant and bar, so switching it back on is the obvious first move — a decision, not a construction project.

Build on the group trade. The layout — restaurant, bar, dance floor, two pools, gift shop and, with the Derecho units, up to 16 sleeping units on one site — suits weddings, family reunions, yoga and wellness retreats, corporate groups and film work. The hotel has housed a film crew for a full month, two years running, which tells you what it can absorb: a large party, in one place, for a long stay.

Look at the land and the Derechos. Four two-bedroom Derechos have been sold here historically, and the remaining buildings, plus the undeveloped lot, leave room to create more units or to develop or sell part of the land. Everything on that path depends on municipal, legal, architectural and environmental approval, so treat it as an avenue to investigate with your own professionals rather than a promise.

Satellite imagery © Google

The hotel sits on three registered lots — 6,697 m², 1,088 m² and 1,006 m², or 8,271 m² together. A separate 519 m² lot holds the four Derecho apartments; it was split onto its own title in 2024 and is not part of the sale. The outline above was marked by the owner to show how the property sits on the ground — the registered survey plans are the authority on the boundaries, and we can send them to you.

Construction areas as given by the owner:

• Restaurant — 340 m²
• Studio apartment area — 153 m²
• Standard block #1 — 126 m²
• Standard block #2 — 126 m²
• Barbecue area — 91 m²
• Laundry — 65 m²
• Pool bathrooms and pump house — 12 m²

That is 913 m² of building on the land being sold. The four Derecho apartments add a further 300 m², but they sit on the separate 519 m² title, belong to their own owners, and are not part of the sale.

Playa Carrillo is the kind of beach people picture when they picture Costa Rica: a long crescent of pale sand under coconut palms, no buildings on the sand, and almost no crowd outside the high season. It is regularly named among the country's best beaches, and it sits 2.5 km from the hotel gate.

Sámara, seven kilometres up the coast, is where guests go for surf lessons, restaurants and nightlife. Around the hotel there is sport fishing, horseback riding, kayaking in the mangroves, zip lines, and the Camaronal refuge where turtles nest. Liberia's international airport is about ninety minutes away, and the local bus stops at the door.

An owner-operator who wants to live at the beach and run a small hotel; a hospitality group adding a Guanacaste property; or an investor who wants a going concern with the renovation, the permits and the distribution already behind it. The owners are returning to Canada for family medical reasons — the sale has nothing to do with how the business is performing.

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Details are provided by the owner and believed accurate, but GAP does not warrant condition, configuration, permits, measurements or legal status, and nothing here is an offer of credit or financial advice. Confirm all material details with your own attorney before you commit.