I was horrified to read the following report about the Occidental hotel chain Hotel Allegro Papagayo!

http://www.ticotimes.net/topstory.htm

This is what happens when big chain hotels come to Costa Rica and only care about the money. Costa Rica simply does not have the infrastructure to support these huge projects. They will try and hide the horrors that they are creating instead of spending the money to set them up properly first. It is very fortunate that these things are being discovered. I suppose with the stench, it could only be hidden for so long!

I read that too. It's sad, sad, sad what's happening in a lot of places in CR - non-stop building without foresight (or care) for proper infrastructure to handle the people and what they leave behind that comes with develeopment. I really wish the government would step and do something, anything, but then again isn't the Papagayo sponsored by the government? Incidents like this, the fecal contamination in Tamarindo are not only going to continue but get worse until more people, and the government, step up and realize they are destroying what brings so many to the country. Props to the residents for at least taking the steps to identify the trucks, they shouldn't have to deal with tourists sewage no matter what.

Yuck. The Papagayo Project, probably close to 10 years old by now, includes that entire peninsula. You know, the Four Seasons is directly next door to Allegro. And about 10 or 12 (or more) new hotels have plans to locate in that area within the next 3-4 years, including Mandarin Oriental and a few other luxury properties. Something has to give.

The government ordered the hotel closed last night, and for guests to be removed from the premises.

Wow--what a shame. They may never overcome that bit of publicity.

Good! The CR gov't certainly took their time but good to hear they are doing something.

The government denied the hotel owners' appeal today for a repreive on the closure. It will close the hotel Tuesday morning and all guests will be removed, barring some last-minute snag. (You always have to add that qualification in Costa Rica.)

I do feel sorry for anyone staying there right now. People do save up quite awhile for a nice winter vacation. WIll they just be out on the street? No doubt other have reservations there for upcoming trips too.

Latest update: The news here said that the guests who are already at the hotel can remain there until the end of their scheduled stays. They are not out on the street. But no new guests may arrive, so I don't know what happens to someone with reservations for next week.

Such a bummer. If they are phasing out the staff, that's not going to make for a very pleasant stay for the guests who complete their time there (few guests, skeleton staff, doesn't sound like a good time to me!). I'll bet some agencies are scrambling to find alternatives for people who've booked with them.

This hotel was our first experience in CR and it is a little sad for our family to hear of such a mess. It just seems unthinkable that the "powers that be" could think that this part of Guanacaste could support such massive (upcoming) development with the water shortage such as it is for the people who live in the area. Can't imagine how much it must take just to keep those greens at the FS!

Thanks, Jeff, for posting the updates. Please continue as you hear more. . . .

My girlfriend and I have had a trip planned for this resort in late February (we planned it a few months ago). Looks like we might be needing a different hotel, I'm hoping that Occidental will step up and shift us into a new place if things don't get resolved (which seems unlikely). There's been quite a bit of negative press associated with this hotel, and I'm hoping we can move to a new place. Any other near by resorts or suggestions? I've attempted to contact the company, but no luck yet. Any other thoughts on this issue? I've heard many great things about CR and I'm hoping we'll have a great time, but the hotel situation has me a bit worried. We have several tours booked already, and I'd like to keep those. Any tips would be appreciated.

I work for a tour operator & haven't been able to get a straight answer from Occidental. Last week they insisted the hotel would be open and that "we shouldn't believe everything we read" and that all was fine. At this point now they've advised us they will be relocating our passengers to their other property however that hotel is oversold now for the next few weeks. I don't know where they intend on moving their guests. My family will be staying in Playa Grande in a week & now I'm having concerns about swimming in the water there as well. Since it falls between Papagayo & Tamarindo who both have lost their blue flags...how clean can their water be??

Sounds like their other property, Occidental Grand Papagayo may be in trouble as well.
http://www.ticotimes.net/topstory.htm

VTLex: I would definitely make reservations at another hotel.

I'm glad to see the gov't, however slowly, taking some action on this. I feel for the staff, and for the people who book vacations there, but I hope this puts all hotels on notice that this is unacceptable and is damaging what/why people come to CR in the first place. I feel most for the residents who had to/have to live with this sewage being basically dumped right under their noses. No one should have to live thru that for the issue of tourism. There is a workable balance out there, many hotels have achieved that but when these big corps/reckless builders put money first this is the outcome.

Now the GRAND PAPAGAYO! Good that the government is finally stepping in! I hope they look at all of these big hotels to see how they're dealing with all that waste!

The whole Papagayo development is a government project that has been in the works for about 15 years. Since the government has a stake in it, that might be why they were so slow to act.

Word is that the guests are almost all gone and that the tourist office here has been working with guests already there to help them find other accommodations. I don't what, if anything, they are doing for people who have reservations in upcoming weeks.

I was talking yesterday to the Tico Times reporter who has been covering this since the beginning. I give the paper great credit for this. They have always blazed a trail in their coverage of environmental issues. Anyway, he was up there Tuesday morning. Guests were still milling about as if it were a normal day. No one at the hotel had told them what was about to happen. He interviewed a few of them on the beach. They were completely shocked to hear that the hotel had been dumping sewage this way, and equally shocked to hear that they would likely have to look for other accommodation.

If I had a reservation there I would be cancelling and booking somewhere else - it seems doubtful that this would be remedied quickly.

Moving this to the top. Someone has a question about it another thread.