Costa Rica Real Estate Investment

The international Best Western hotel chain has reached an agreement with the Paraíso Carlisa hotel in Puriscal, part of the province of San Jose.

The Paraíso Carlisa, located about 30 miles from the popular beach towns of Quepos and Manuel Antonio, is an eco-resort with 20 bungalows nestled in 2.5 acres of primary and secondary forest near the Cangreja National Park and the Zapaton Indigenous Reserve.

Best Western is the world´s largest hotel brand, with more than 4000 hotels in 80 countries, including more than 25 in Costa Rica. The Paraíso Carlisa will be Best Western´s first mountain hotel in Latin America. Each Best Western hotel is independently owned and operated.

Western Union, meanwhile, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its operations in Costa Rica, and announced an expansion of its Global Service Center here. With 550 new hires, the expansion will nearly double Western Union´s workforce in the country, for a total of 1200 employees by the end of 2008.

Christian Rodríguez, VP of Operations for Costa Rica, explained that the decision to expand here was based on the quality of Costa Rica´s education, costs, infrastructure, technology and human resources.

The world leader in global money transfer services first opened a small call center in Costa Rica in 1998, employing 33 people to serve Latin America and the Cribbean. Western Union´s Costa Rica operations now offer services in eight languages, handling customers in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Also this week, the Western Union Foundation announced a $25,000 donation to Fundacion Alimentando Esperanzas, a San Jose-based nonprofit organization offering education and family support services to children and their families.