Hotel Cariari is a great income opportunity between the airport and San Jose. All existing thirty-four smoke-free hotel rooms are quite spacious and fully loaded, each with two large beds, clean, cool ceramic-tiled floors, private baths, some with bidets, all with large color TVs, wireless internet throughout the hotel, all rooms have A/C, direct dial phones, coffee makers, a small writing table and chairs, an attractive armoire closet and dresser, and an in-room safe. Included are three suites which have in-bath Jacuzzis, microwaves and a small fridge. There is a sixty person bar and restaurant, and a big two story solarium room with a large Mayan waterfall Jacuzzi, a computer station with four computers with flat screens for people without a laptop, and a new fully-equipped ten piece gym. The particular area is really growing, with two more malls and a major hotel/conference complex within close walking distance. There are two properties included in this sale, the hotel plus an attached house, the perfect place for installing a pool and several more guests’ rooms, maybe five or six. The hotel property is a fat capital L shape, but with the house, it makes the whole property rectangular, so it fits like a glove along two inside walls. Commercial square footage is worth a lot more than residential, plus room rates across the entire hotel can go up moderately with a pool. A pool also increases multi-day stays by making Hotel Cariari more of a destination for people (with families, retirees) touring the nearby rainforests, volcanos, etc. Also, with a pool, it becomes a four star hotel. Along with some small bed and breakfasts in the area, there are three five star hotels as our competition, the Hilton Double Tree Cariari, a Ramada Plaza Herradura, and a bit further, the huge Marriott, all in the $150 to $300 per night range, so it is better priced to ride out any economic slow-down. The hotel makes at least a 20% commission on each tour and car rental, plus guests tend to take an extra nights lodging for each tour taken. In the off-season the hotel has been keeping the occupancy up until now with week-long Floridians, Texans, even upper-middle class Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, who are not interested in Costa Ricas hot beaches, but rather the cool rainforests and volcanoes. It has a high year-round occupancy rate, and since January, it has seen a marked increase in full paying guests who contact directly without middleman commissions due. Hotel Cariari is an excellent opportunity for someone wanting to make money immediately, as it is fully-operational and basically runs itself, fully renovated, and often quite busy. The new pool will be a bonus. The hotel started a paid 60 member Costa Rica hotel association and member hotels from all over Costa Rica send guests quite often. It is also ranked quite high on TripAdvisor.com, and has been #5 out of 125 San Jose hotels regarding guest satisfaction for nearly a year. Unlike beach and mountain properties that are very seasonal, Hotel Cariari tends to be busy year round.

The location is multi-purpose, ideal for first and last night stays in Costa Rica for tourists and condo owners, as well as people who want the San Jose experience for part of their vacation. Costa Rica is growing leaps and bounds along both coasts and the Arenal/Monteverde areas with new hotels and condos popping up daily. The hotel is also poised to continue benefitting from increased airport arrivals, with no slowdown in site as people are increasingly moving assets to Costa Rica. Hotel Cariari is also central in Costa Rica to Pacuare whitewater rafting, Irazu, Poas and further Arenal Volcanos, Waterfall Garden Park, San Lorenzo - the largest canopy tour in the world, plus some great coffee and butterfly farm tours. The closeness to the San Jose location also allows it a larger bilingual labor pool to draw from, and convenient proximity to government and other services and suppliers.

Good.

I am asking $2.8 million if you want me to finance up to 50% at 7.5%, or $2.6 million cash. Hotel Cariari is a good, safe hotel to own, especially if this is your first hotel in Costa Rica. The hotel is set up to be easy to run, and the owner and son would be more than happy to take the time and show how things are done. The owner will share some of the more successful marketing ideas discovered. The hotel could quite possibly get a casino patente and use the attached house for a small casino. The owner will gladly share gross and net income information when he meets a potential buyer. It has showed an 11% ROI if you purchase it at $2.8 million with 50% VTB financing, or a 12% ROI if you pay $2.6 million cash, and last count as of May 2008, for the previous year it had a 73% occupancy rate. Other income available is from the restaurant and bar, which the owner has leased to an American fellow for free (in return for breakfast for my guests) because the owner doesn’t have the time (or patience) to operate it. The hotel is completely debt-free and current except for one $882,000 first mortgage which would need to be retired at closing.

The owner would finance 50% of a 2.8 Million salesprice for five years.