The short answer: Costa Rica's newest luxury hotels are already open: the 188-room Waldorf Astoria Punta Cacique since April 2025 and Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve since February 2025, both in Guanacaste. No marquee flag opens in 2026; the next arrival is The St. Regis Papagayo, targeting early 2027 with 120 rooms.
By the Hotels for Kings Editorial Team · Last updated: July 4, 2026
We may earn a commission when you book through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. Rankings are editorial and never sold. Every status, room count and spa specification below was checked in July 2026 against brand press releases and live booking pages. Dates for unbuilt resorts are targets, and each entry says so plainly.
Checked 4 July 2026. Costa Rica sells recovery better than almost anywhere on earth, and its hotel pipeline finally matches the pitch: seventeen thousand square feet of Chorotega-inspired spa on one cliff, tented suites in the treetops of a protected peninsula, and a St. Regis rising above the Gulf of Papagayo. The nuance a booking traveler needs is timing. The two headline properties are not coming, they are here, both open since 2025 and both within half an hour of Liberia's international airport. The year 2026 itself is a quiet one at the top of the market, whatever breathless roundups imply, and the next confirmed luxury flag lands in early 2027 if its construction calendar holds. This ledger separates what is bookable tonight from what is a press release, and says which is which.
Quick comparison
| Hotel | Place | Opened / Opening | Size | Status |
|---|
| Waldorf Astoria Punta Cacique | Playa Penca, Guanacaste | April 22, 2025 | 188 rooms incl. 40 suites | Open |
| Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve | Peninsula Papagayo | February 2025 | 107 rooms and suites | Open |
| The St. Regis Papagayo | Gulf of Papagayo | Early 2027, target | 120 rooms + 143 residences | Under construction |
How was this list verified?
Every entry rests on the operator's own paper: Hilton's opening release of April 22, 2025, Marriott's Nekajui debut release of February 2025, and Marriott's St. Regis signing announcement of May 22, 2025, cross-checked against live booking pages in July 2026. Open hotels outrank targets, and targets are printed with their construction math visible. Projects that exist only in pipeline reporting, like the JW Marriott Costa Elena, are named below the ranked list, not on it. This page is re-verified quarterly; full methodology here.
The properties, open doors first
1
Playa Penca, Guanacaste · Open
Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique
Opened April 22, 2025 · 188 rooms incl. 40 suites · 17,000 sq ft spa
The healing ground: the spa here is the most fully realized in the country's new generation, 17,000 square feet with 11 treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms and a jacuzzi, and its treatment menu is rooted in something older than wellness marketing: the healing traditions of the indigenous Chorotega people, worked through volcanic clay, cacao and native botanicals. A ceremonial cacao ritual with craniosacral massage headlines the menu, and a rotating guest practitioner program brings outside specialists in residence. An open-air yoga studio and a dedicated fitness pool round out a program with unusual depth.
Confirmed in print: open since April 22, 2025, the brand's Costa Rica debut, terraced into a cliff above Playa Penca by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos with living rooftops and a multi-level pool stepping toward the sand. The count is 148 rooms and 40 suites, 22 of those suites with private plunge pools, about 25 minutes from Liberia airport. Six dining venues run from La Finca, the signature room built on Chorotega harvesting traditions, to a Peacock Alley with Costa Rican rum in the glass. Playa Penca itself holds the country's Bandera Azul Ecologica flag for beach standards.
The honest caveat: this is a large, family-fluent resort with kids and teens clubs and 10,000 square feet of event space, so travelers picturing an adults-only hush should look at smaller lodges instead; and the celebrated multi-level pool is shared ground, not a private cove.
Source: Hilton opening release (April 22, 2025); live property page.
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2
Peninsula Papagayo · Open
Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
Opened February 2025 · 107 rooms and suites · First Reserve in the Americas south of Mexico
The healing ground: the name means lush garden in the local indigenous language, and the setting delivers the therapy: a protected peninsula where the dry tropical forest runs down to calm Gulf water, with three tented treetop suites for travelers who want the canopy at eye level. Reserve is Ritz-Carlton's smallest and quietest tier, built on the premise that seclusion itself is the treatment, and with 107 ocean-facing keys this is the most intimate of the country's new arrivals.
Confirmed in print: opened February 2025 as the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Central and South America and only the eighth worldwide, with architecture by SB Architects and Gensler that borrows from Guanacaste's old haciendas. It joined TIME's World's Greatest Places list for 2026. The peninsula is an established luxury compound rather than a frontier: Four Seasons has operated here since 2004 and the Andaz since 2013, which means mature service infrastructure and a proven flight path through Liberia.
The honest caveat: Reserve pricing runs well above every other flag in the country, and Papagayo's beaches are calm rather than postcard-white, so travelers chasing clear-water snorkeling or budget headroom should read our full Costa Rica hotel guide before committing the deposit.
Source: Marriott debut release (February 2025); live property page.
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3
Gulf of Papagayo · Under construction
The St. Regis Papagayo
Early 2027 target · 120 rooms + 143 residences · First St. Regis in Costa Rica
The healing ground: the plans promise a spa, multiple pools, a beach club and the brand's ritualized service theater, from the Library to the Bar and Speakeasy, across nearly 50 acres with 634 yards of beachfront on the Gulf of Papagayo. No spa square footage or treatment philosophy has been published yet, so the wellness half of this resort remains an outline; we will fill it in when Marriott does.
Confirmed in print: Marriott's announcement of May 22, 2025 sets construction from July 2025 and an early 2027 opening for the brand's Costa Rica debut, 120 rooms and 143 residences about 25 minutes from Liberia airport, with six dining venues including Casa Club, The Cliff and a Beach Club and Grill. Note the geography with care: this is a new site on the Gulf of Papagayo, not part of the established Peninsula Papagayo compound that houses Nekajui, the Four Seasons and the Andaz.
The honest caveat: a ground-up resort moving from first shovel to first guest in roughly eighteen months would be quick work anywhere, and quicker still in the tropics, so early 2027 is best read as the opening of a window rather than a date to build flights around. No booking engine was live as of July 2026.
Source: Marriott signing announcement (May 22, 2025).
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What else sits in the pipeline, and how firm is it?
The biggest project by key count is not a boutique at all. The JW Marriott All-Inclusive Costa Elena appears in Costa Rica's tourism pipeline reporting with 415 rooms in Guanacaste and a projected May 2027 opening, part of an expansion the local press tallies at roughly 1,500 new rooms nationwide across 2026 and 2027, the majority along the Liberia corridor. Those figures come from development reporting rather than brand releases with firm dates, so we hold them below the ranked list until an operator signs its name to a month. The pattern worth absorbing is concentration: nearly everything arriving at the top of this market lands within 40 minutes of one airport, which makes Guanacaste the practical base for any first visit and puts pressure on dry-season availability at the established names. If the 2027 wave feels far off, remember the current one barely finished: two world-class properties opened here within nine weeks of each other in 2025, and both still offer opening-era rate behavior in the green season. Our Costa Rica hotel guide ranks everything already trading.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the newest luxury hotel in Costa Rica?
- Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique, which opened on April 22, 2025 above Playa Penca in Guanacaste, about 25 minutes from Liberia airport. The 188-room cliffside resort by Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos carries a 17,000 square foot spa with 11 treatment rooms, six restaurants and bars, and a multi-level pool stepping down toward the beach.
- Are any new luxury hotels opening in Costa Rica in 2026?
- No marquee luxury flag has published a confirmed 2026 opening in Costa Rica. The country's luxury wave crested in 2025 with Nekajui and the Waldorf Astoria, and resumes in 2027 with the St. Regis Papagayo and the 415-room JW Marriott Costa Elena. Tourism pipeline reporting counts roughly 1,500 rooms arriving nationwide across 2026 and 2027, most of them in Guanacaste.
- When does the St. Regis Papagayo open?
- Marriott's May 22, 2025 announcement targets early 2027, with construction starting July 2025. The newly built resort on the Gulf of Papagayo will carry 120 rooms and 143 residences across nearly 50 acres with 634 yards of beachfront, six dining venues and a spa. A construction start to opening in under two years is ambitious, so treat early 2027 as a target rather than a promise.
- What is Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve?
- The first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Central and South America, opened February 2025 on Peninsula Papagayo. It carries 107 ocean-facing rooms and suites, including three tented treetop suites, with architecture by SB Architects and Gensler inspired by Guanacaste's haciendas. It shares the peninsula with the Four Seasons, open since 2004, and the Andaz, open since 2013.
- What are the spa facilities like at the Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica?
- The spa spans 17,000 square feet with 11 treatment rooms, saunas, steam rooms and a jacuzzi. Treatments draw on the traditions of the indigenous Chorotega people, using volcanic clay, cacao and native botanicals, alongside an open-air yoga studio, a fitness pool and a guest practitioner program the resort calls Wellness Residencies. These are published specifications, not brochure atmosphere.
- Is the JW Marriott Costa Elena confirmed?
- It appears in Costa Rica's tourism pipeline reporting as a 415-room all-inclusive in Guanacaste with a projected May 2027 opening. That is a projection from development reporting rather than a brand press release with a firm date, so we list it as pipeline and will move it to the ranked list once Marriott publishes an opening announcement.
- When should you book a new Costa Rica resort?
- Guanacaste's dry season runs roughly December to April and books furthest ahead; the green season, May through November, brings afternoon rain, fuller forests and materially softer rates. Both open resorts sit about 25 minutes from Liberia airport, which takes nonstop flights from many US cities, so a long weekend is realistic. For first-season stays anywhere, refundable rates remain the calm choice.