Costa Rica Luxury Hotels Expand With New Hilton LXR Resort
Costa Rica luxury hotels are adding another international luxury flag after Hilton announced on August 27, 2026, that Maravé Manuel Antonio will join LXR Hotels & Resorts. The project is expected to open in 2029 on a nearly 40-acre Pacific beachfront site near Manuel Antonio National Park, combining a 57-key resort with 116 branded residences.
The signing matters beyond a single property. Costa Rica recorded 2,001,660 international tourist arrivals from January through July 2026, up 6.4% from the same period a year earlier, according to the Costa Rican Tourism Institute. At the same time, Hilton is building its luxury and lifestyle pipeline across the Caribbean and Latin America, placing Manuel Antonio within a wider regional shift toward high-end resorts that combine hospitality with residential real estate.
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Costa Rica luxury hotels move deeper into nature-led development
Maravé Manuel Antonio is planned as a seven-story resort with 42 ocean-view guest rooms and 15 private hillside bungalows, bringing the hotel component to 57 accommodations. Each bungalow is expected to include a private plunge pool overlooking the surrounding landscape.
The wider development will include 116 furnished residences, divided among 66 private villas, 46 oceanfront condominiums and four penthouses. Together, the hotel and residential components will create 173 accommodations across the property.
The site stretches across nearly 40 acres from a rainforest ridge to approximately 650 feet of Pacific beachfront. Hilton expects construction to be completed in late 2028, followed by the hotel opening in 2029. Residential sales are scheduled to begin in fall 2026.
This combination of hotel rooms and branded residences gives the development two connected forms of demand. Hotel guests create traditional leisure business, while residences link a global hospitality brand with travelers and buyers seeking longer-term ownership combined with hotel-style services.
For developers, the model can also broaden how a resort is financed and positioned. Residential sales may contribute capital during the development cycle, while the hotel component supports lodging, food and beverage, wellness and service operations once the resort opens. The exact financial structure varies from project to project, so the residential element should not be interpreted as a guarantee of performance.
Manuel Antonio brings an established tourism base
Location is one of the most important elements behind the project.
Manuel Antonio National Park was Costa Rica's most visited protected area in 2025, recording 530,277 visits, according to the country's National System of Conservation Areas, known as SINAC. The park accounted for 17.85% of reported visits to protected areas during the year.
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The destination combines rainforest, wildlife, beaches and Pacific scenery within a relatively compact area. That gives hotel operators the ability to connect accommodation with nature-based experiences while allowing the destination itself to remain a central part of the trip.
The latest national tourism figures also provide useful context.
Costa Rica welcomed more than 1.14 million visitors from the United States between January and July 2026, making it the country's largest international source market. Canada contributed approximately 220,700 visitors, while European markets generated more than 315,000 arrivals during the same period.
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The visitor mix matters for the upper end of the hotel market. North America provides a substantial base of leisure demand, while European markets contribute geographic diversity and support longer-haul travel patterns.
Costa Rica's total visitor count through July was 6.4% higher than during the first seven months of 2025. The United States was up 4.3% over the same cumulative period, Canada grew 24.4%, and arrivals from Europe increased 8.4%.
Hilton is building a larger regional luxury pipeline
Maravé will become the first LXR Hotels & Resorts property in Costa Rica and its residential component will represent the first LXR branded residences in Latin America.
The project follows Hilton's expansion into Costa Rica's luxury segment through Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica Punta Cacique, which opened in 2025.
Across the Caribbean and Latin America, Hilton now reports more than 315 operating hotels in over 35 countries and territories. Its regional development pipeline contains more than 150 hotels, including 50 properties in the luxury and lifestyle categories.
“more than 150 hotels” → Hilton Caribbean and Latin America development update]
The pipeline extends well beyond Costa Rica. Hilton plans Waldorf Astoria San Miguel de Allende in Mexico for 2027 and Conrad Los Cabos for 2028, alongside other projects across the Caribbean and Latin America.
For Costa Rica, the Manuel Antonio signing brings a second Hilton luxury concept into a market where nature, wellness and design play an important role in the guest experience.
One notable aspect is the relatively intimate scale of the hotel itself. The 57 hotel accommodations sit alongside a residential inventory more than twice its size, making real estate ownership a central part of the development rather than an additional feature.
Branded residences take a larger role in resort development
The 116 branded residences represent roughly two-thirds of the property's planned 173 accommodations.
Hilton says residence owners will receive Hilton Honors Diamond status and access to benefits across its luxury portfolio. The resort is also planned with restaurants, a beach club, spa and wellness facilities, fitness areas and programming for families.
Mixed-use resorts of this type bring several hospitality functions together on one site.
Guests use the property for temporary stays. Owners may return several times a year. Restaurants, wellness facilities and leisure amenities can serve both groups.
That structure can create a longer relationship between travelers and a destination than a traditional hotel stay.
It also creates operational considerations. Hotel operators need to balance the expectations of transient guests and homeowners while managing privacy, shared spaces, service standards and resort amenities.
Those factors can become as important as architecture or location once a mixed-use property begins operating.
What the latest tourism data say about Costa Rica
The new resort arrives during a period of continued international visitor growth.
Costa Rica received 268,064 international tourists in July 2026, bringing the year-to-date total through July to just over two million. July arrivals were 2.3% above the same month in 2025.
Tourism growth, however, has not followed the same pattern every month.
June arrivals were slightly below the prior year's level, while the first three months of 2026 posted stronger year-over-year gains. Canada has been one of the fastest-growing major source markets, while European arrivals have also remained ahead of 2025 levels.
This distinction matters when evaluating hotel development.
Strong annual visitor numbers do not mean that every season or source market performs identically. Resorts must still manage seasonality, air connectivity, room pricing and changes in traveler behavior.
Manuel Antonio begins from a different position than an emerging destination because it already has measurable visitor demand anchored by its national park and Pacific coast.
That established tourism base helps explain why international hotel groups are extending their presence beyond Costa Rica's better-known luxury clusters in Guanacaste.
Costa Rica luxury hotels connect hospitality and real estate
The Maravé project also reflects a broader change within luxury resort development.
Hospitality brands are extending beyond traditional hotel rooms into residences, villas and mixed-use communities that connect travel with real estate ownership.
Hilton reports more than 40 branded residential properties operating globally across its portfolio, with more than 50 additional developments underway.
For global hotel companies, branded residences can extend relationships with guests beyond individual trips. For developers, affiliation with an established hospitality brand can provide operating standards, distribution systems, loyalty-program access and international visibility.
For destinations, the implications are more complex.
Residential development may attract long-term capital and create new demand for restaurants, wellness services and local experiences. At the same time, projects operating near sensitive ecosystems require careful attention to infrastructure, land use and environmental management.
Hilton says the Manuel Antonio development has been designed around the site's natural topography and is expected to incorporate a mass-timber structure while preserving existing vegetation.
These elements remain part of the development plan and will need to be evaluated as construction advances.
What to watch before the 2029 opening
Several milestones will determine how Maravé Manuel Antonio moves from signing to operation.
Residential sales are expected to begin in fall 2026. Construction is currently scheduled for completion in late 2028, followed by a planned 2029 hotel opening.
These dates are forward-looking and can change during the development process. A hotel signing also does not guarantee that every planned amenity or design element will appear exactly as described when a property opens.
Still, the project adds a meaningful data point to the evolution of Costa Rica luxury hotels.
International hotel groups are combining relatively small resort inventories with larger branded residential components in destinations where established tourism demand and natural attractions already provide a strong foundation.
For the wider hospitality sector, Maravé Manuel Antonio will be worth following not simply as another hotel opening, but as an example of how luxury resort development across Latin America is bringing lodging, residential ownership, wellness and destination experiences into a single operating model.
Sources
Hilton — August 28, 2026
Official announcement of Maravé Manuel Antonio, LXR Hotels & Resorts, including development scope, room count, residences, opening timeline and Hilton's regional pipeline.
Hilton: Maravé Manuel Antonio LXR signing
Costa Rican Tourism Institute
Official international tourism arrivals through July 2026. Data are based on Costa Rica's immigration records and exclude cruise passengers from the international tourist-arrival measure.
