Hotels.com published the list of winners of their yearly Loved by Guests Awards, which recognize hotels all around the world that receive the best scores by their clients in nine different categories: beach, boutique, business, family, LGBT, luxury, newcomer, spa and gold. To receive a gold award, properties must have received an average customer review score of 4.7 or higher, based on a minimum of 50 reviews as of December 31, 2016. To receive a ‘best for’ award, the 50 hotels with the highest average customer review score in each category were chosen, based on a minimum of 20 reviews as of December 31, 2016.

Two hotels in Costa Rica are featured in the LGBT category, recognizing friendly hotels for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities; these are: Real Intercontinental in Escazú and the Hilton Garden Inn in Sabana, both hotels received a score of 4.6 (out of 5), these two hotels are the only ones featured for Central America, which in all features 90 hotels in 16 countries. The United States has the larger number with 60, followed by Canada with 6, Japan and Italy with 4 each; then Costa Rica, Mexico, Aruba and Colombia with two each and finally Argentina, Curacao, Dominican Republic, France, Holland, South Africa, Spain and United Kingdom with one hotel each.

Other hotels in Costa Rica also made their way to the top positions in different categories, for instance in the SPA category: Arenal Manoa and Hot Springs Resort (4.6), Arenal Springs Resort (4.6) and El Parador in Manuel Antonio (4.5).

In the Luxury category, the best ranked was Tabacón in La Fortuna with a 4.6, this was the only hotel included for the Central America region.

The Gold Awards also included two Costa Rica hotels, the Otro Lado Lodge and Restaurant located in Santa Teresa (4.7) and the Hotel Rio Celeste Hideaway (4.6).