Most "boutique hotels" here are really multi-key STRs
A full-service hotel carries a front desk, restaurant, daily housekeeping, and a payroll to match. A boutique property with 4–15 keys on the Gold Coast is usually closer to a large Airbnb operation: nightly stays, the same OTAs (Airbnb, Booking, VRBO), and the same demand drivers — distance to the beach, photos, reviews, and an operator who answers fast.
That reframing matters because it changes how you value it. You don't need hotel-industry comps; model it like several rental units in one building — per key, against local short-term-rental demand.
How to model it: per-key, not per-villa
Start with keys × per-key ADR × occupancy × 365 = gross. A single room rents below a whole villa, so don't borrow an entire-home nightly rate — use a conservative per-room figure (often roughly half the market's entire-home ADR, then adjusted for your room mix and amenities).
Then strip boutique-specific costs a single villa doesn't carry: more cleaning turns, possible staff, breakfast or F&B if offered, higher utilities, and heavier management. Net margins on multi-key properties run thinner than a hands-off single villa — model it honestly.
The anchor is always the seller's disclosed trailing-12-month gross and occupancy. If those exist and reconcile to OTA payout statements, you have a real number. If they don't, treat the asking price as a building purchase, not a business purchase.
What to demand from the seller
Twelve months of OTA payout statements (Airbnb/Booking/VRBO), not a screenshot of a calendar. Occupancy and ADR by month so you can see the green-season trough.
The split between owned keys and any concession or shared areas, the staff roster and whether they stay, and existing forward bookings you'd be assuming. Confirm titled (fee-simple) vs. Maritime-Zone concession on the land itself — the same trap that catches beachfront home buyers.
Where the margin is — and the value-add
The upside in a tired boutique property is usually operational, not structural: better photos, direct-booking to cut OTA fees, dynamic pricing, and filling the shoulder season. A property running at market-average occupancy with amateur pricing is exactly the kind of value-add a professional operator can lift.
This is the play we run: acquire a multi-key building that's underperforming its location, operate it like a top-quartile STR, and capture the gap. If you'd rather partner than operate, that's a JV conversation.
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See boutique & multi-key listings on the mapFrequently asked questions
Can you buy a boutique hotel in Costa Rica as a foreigner?
Yes — foreigners can own commercial and lodging property in Costa Rica with the same fee-simple rights as citizens. The only exception is concession land in the 200m Maritime Zone along the beach, so confirm titled vs. concession before buying.
How do you value a boutique hotel for sale in Costa Rica?
Model it per-key: keys × a conservative per-room ADR × occupancy × 365 for gross, then subtract boutique-specific costs (extra cleaning, staff, F&B, utilities, management). Anchor everything to the seller's trailing-12-month gross verified against OTA payout statements — not a pro-forma projection.
Is a boutique hotel a good investment in Costa Rica?
It can be, when it's small enough to run like a multi-key Airbnb and priced against its actual trailing revenue. The reliable upside is operational — direct bookings, dynamic pricing, and filling the green season — so an underperforming property in a strong location is often the best entry.
What's the difference between a boutique hotel and an Airbnb in Costa Rica?
Mostly scale and services. A 4–15-key boutique property runs on the same short-term-rental demand and OTAs as an Airbnb but adds shared amenities and sometimes staff or breakfast. Larger full-service hotels (restaurant, daily housekeeping, big payroll) are a different, more operationally intensive business.
How many rooms is a boutique hotel?
There's no fixed line, but "boutique" generally means roughly 4–15 keys — small enough for a single operator to run like a large multi-unit short-term rental rather than a full-service hotel.
Written by Patrick Beland
STR expert and investor — software developer, house flipper, former realtor in Canada, and short-term rental investor across Canada and Costa Rica, now based in Playas del Coco. I write from my own books, not a brochure. About
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