On the surface, accommodation pricing seems like it should be relatively straightforward. How much does it cost for one person to stay one night in an accommodation? When we started building our Camino de Costa Rica accommodation database, we discovered it’s a bit more complex than that.
Colones and dollars. About half of the accommodations set their rates in colones, and the rest are in dollars. To standardize it, we converted everything to dollars and then update the pricing once a month based on currency swings.
Per person vs per room vs per cabin vs camping. Some accommodations charge per person, others by the room, some by the cabin and a few let you pitch a tent on the property. Within these options, some rooms and cabins have both maximum and minimum occupancy rates, which further adjusts the per person cost. In nearly all instances, our listed accommodation price is per person or an average thereof. We include additional pricing information if required in the accommodations description.
More on camping. Some accommodations provide camping equipment for free, others charge for it, and the rest require you to have your own gear.
Meals. Nearly all Camino de Costa Rica hikers prefer to have dinner and breakfast provided by the accommodation. For a packed lunch, the numbers are approximately half of all hikers who request a to-go lunch from the accommodations. Despite this, the majority of accommodations charge extra for meals, with just a select few including them in the nightly rate. Soon our website will have a filter for toggling accommodations that include meals in their rates. I think it’s likely that most accommodations will include meals in the future, however, that hasn’t happened yet.
Pricing changes. The trail is relatively new, growing fast in popularity and entrepreneurial Tico’s are finding the sweet spot for pricing their homestays. Additionally, the Camino de Costa Rica sees a high and low season, which has big swings in demand. This means that prices change frequently. We tend to receive the information first and update the site as soon as we find out about a new rate.
Finally, don’t worry about a thing. We take all this data in and try our best to show it in an easy-to-read format. All you need to is submit your dates, and then we handle the complexities of reservations. Overtime, trail accommodations will standardize what’s offered and until then, we’re here to help.
