Costa Rica Classic International Billfish Tournament Returns to Quepos Costa Rica!

Quepos, Costa Rica, long considered one of the top sport fishing destinations in Costa Rica, plays host to the popular Costa Rica Classic International Billfish Tournament to be held March 10-12, 2011.

The Costa Rica Classic International Billfish Tournament which in years past was hosted in Quepos, had been held

Join us for the Costa Rica Classic!!

at the Los Suenos Marina in previous years, but once again returns to our popular area. This classic match up of some of the top International and Local Anglers will take the town by storm, with proceeds set to benefit the Boomer Esiason Foundation. This World renowned event is scheduled to be held at the brand new Marina Pez Vela, Quepos’ newest tourist attraction. Many nearby Manuel Antonio Hotels, as well as Hotels in Quepos will be offering special room rates for anglers, their crews and other fishing aficionados, but don’t wait too long, as space is limited for this popular fishing event!

The Event
The welcoming Cocktail Reception will be held March 10th at Hotel Mariposa in Manuel Antonio. Fishing teams will consist of a minimum two anglers per boat with

Offshore Fishing at it’s Best!!

up to six anglers per boat permitted. Individual anglers will be assigned to a team by tournament directors. This is a “Benefit Tournament” and modified IGFA rules apply. This is a Gentlemen’s tournament, and we are here to have fun, catch fish, make friends and help a great cause. THE HONOR SYSTEM APPLIES. Fishing on March 11 and 12 are lines in at 8:30am and out at 3:30pm, boats can depart the marina at 6:20am but no lines in the water until

8:30am. Boats must be back at the docks by 5:30pm. No electric reels are permitted, all rods, reels, line and leader must meet IGFA specifications. Any Billfish, Marlin, Stripe Marlin, Sailfish, Spearfish, Swordfish, regardless of size will be released in accordance with IGFA and tournament rules.

The Cause
The Boomer Esiason Foundation is a dynamic partnership of leaders in the medical and business communities joining with a committed core of volunteers to heighten awareness, education and the quality of life for those affected by cystic fibrosis,

Help us help this great cause!

while providing financial support to research aimed at finding a cure. The Boomer Esiason Foundation’s staff is comprised of individuals with expertise in cystic fibrosis and program development, event planning and fundraising, marketing and communications, and management. The Board of Directors includes leaders in the business community who generously give of their time and resources in support of BEF’s critical mission. These dedicated people may come from all walks for life, but they all agree on one thing: they’ll do whatever it takes to beat cystic fibrosis. This is more than just a fishing tournament, this could help change people’s lives!

Quepos, Costa Rica
Boasting some 17 IGFA Records, Quepos, Costa Rica is considered one of the best locations in the world for big game sportfishing. A small town some 160 km from

The town of Quepos, Costa Rica

the capital city of San Jose, Quepos can be found on Costa Rica’s central Pacific Coast, only 2.5 hours driving or a quick 25 minute domestic flight from the Juan Santa Maria International Airport. Although wildly popular for it’s sport fishing, the town of Quepos is conveniently located only minutes from Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica’s most visited and popular Park. Tourists are not only afforded fantastic fishing opportunities, but a wide variety of other tours and activities are readily available only minutes from local Costa Rica Hotels, fine restaurants, spas and bars. The town

center is a 5 block square filled with many eateries, farmers markets, art galleries and souvenier shops, all situated near the new beach front sea wall. If you happen to visit here during festival times, the streets are filled with dancing, parades and local concerts.

The Marina Pez Vela
Located in one of the most spectacular fishing locations in the world, Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica when completed will offer all

the amenities and services you’d expect to find in a five-star marina resort. Touted to soon be the finest full service marina you will find in all of Central America, just one visit to the 55+ acres of land and water at Marina Pez Vela will exceed the expectations of even the most demanding sportfishing, boating and yachting enthusiasts. Presently under continuing construction, the 300 concrete floating dock slips will eventually accommodate boats up to 200 feet. The first 100 slips opened June 2010 and surround the perimeter of the basin which will offer complete amenities of a first class marina facility. The marina slips are available for sale (with revenue sharing when rented out) or available for short and long-term renting. From 35′ up to 200′, Marina Pez Vela has opened up a new opportunity for boaters to explore the finest waters in all of Central America. Once you arrive here, you will not want to leave!

How Can I Participate?
For further information about this fun and important fishing event, I invite you to check out the official Costa Rica Classic website at http://www.costaricaclassic.com or for further information about Cycstic Fibrosis and how you can support or donate to this worthy cause, please check out their website at http://www.esiason.org.

What Else??
The Quepos area will also play host to the upcoming Costa Rica Challenge,

another popular fishing tournament scheduled for March 17-20, 2011. So, if you’re busy in early March, you still have time to catch the “Big One” later that month! This will be the 3rd Annual CF & MS Fishing Tournament benefiting the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, both important causes that desperately need your support! Join us where the Rainforest Meets the Sea for one or better yet, both of these popular fishing tournaments!

Check out some of the great action from a past tournament:

Author:
Kimberly Barron, originally from Malibu, California has lived in Parismina and Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for 20 years. Starting as a certified tour guide, she spent 15 years managing fishing lodges on the Caribbean Coast and later 4* & 5* Hotels on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Currently semi-retired, Kimberly still works as the Marketing Director for Byblos Resort & Casino and Hotel Makanda by the Sea.

New Addition to Endangered list in Costa Rica…..Boutique Hotels?

Boutique Adventure Resort - Byblos Resort & Casino

Walking down memory lane to the 1990’s, Costa Rica welcomed their first world class hotel chain, the Spanish firm known as Barceló.  Specializing in the “All Inclusive” style of lodging, this style of travel did not take much of a foothold in this country, and the Boutique Hotel market remained the most popular choice for tourist accommodations.  Now we fast forward some 20 years and Costa Rica hosts some 9 major hotel chains!  Everything from Marriott, to Best Western, Intercontinental, Hilton, Choice, Wyndham, Four Seasons and the most recent group….Riu, now serve as the main players, with more jumping in each year.  Does this mean the Boutique Hotel concept is ready for the endangered list in Costa Rica? 

History:

The “boutique” style is said to have been created in New York back in 1984, though there are valid arguments that in 1981 both London and San Francisco boasted the first boutique sized hotels.  Most likely, 1984 might be when the term “boutique hotel” actually was coined, with the term coming into more mainstream use. Entrepreneurs Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell opened the boutique Morgans New York on Madison Avenue in the heart of Manhattan, and the concept grew by leaps and bounds from there. Morgans was small, stylish and unique, unlike the big brand-name hotels that predominated the markets at that time. The actual term “boutique hotel” was said to be coined by Rubell himself, who described their new hotel venture as being like a boutique as opposed to a department store.  A very succinct analogy if you ask me!

 Description:

The most defining characteristics of boutique style hotels are that they are generally small properties, with less than 100 rooms and more often averaging between 3 and 50 rooms total.  They take great pride in offering a super chic atmosphere, unique design and décor, contemporary styling and quite popular these days, a rich historical value or background.  Most boutique hotels provide highly personalized service, with very hands-on staff, management and/or ownership, offering a genuine personality that just can’t be found in the large hotel chains.   Services can be limited depending on the size and luxury level of the property or you can often find some of the most dynamic local and gourmet restaurants, world class spas, and other unique features that make them stand out from the standard hotel offering.  The concept has been so successful, that most multi-national hotel corporations have begun to brand their own chains of boutique resorts in order to try to capture a share of this huge market.

 Locations:

Still a popular choice for hotels in Costa Rica, the concept of “boutique”, “design” or “lifestyle” hotels, as they are often referred, has spread throughout the world, to include European & East Asian countries, appearing in such places as Indonesia, mainland China, Japan, Iceland, Turkey, India & the Middle East, just to name a few.  They continue to remain popular options throughout Central and South America as well or basically anywhere that provides a desirable destination for travel.  I am fairly certain that you will find some sort of boutique hotel in almost any corner of the world these days!

 Target Market:

There are no longer cookie cutter molds for guests seeking the “Boutique experience”.  Travelers are constantly looking for something new and different, while definitely expecting more than the simple comforts once acceptable to the average vacationista.  Whether planning a business trip, destination wedding, honeymoon getaway, adults only escape, or just an overdue vacation, when planning travel, guests more often than not seek properties that are noticeably different in look and feel from the large branded hotels.  Boutique hotels now even present a certain level of social branding.  Those staying at these establishments are often considered as trendy, daring, fashionable, hip travelers that are quite often more ecologically minded.  Since boutique facilities and their pricing can vary dramatically, there are now boutique properties designed to suit every demographic, any price range or social class, always with the idea of creating an unforgettable “guest experience” that just cannot be found in the larger hotel properties.

 Competition:

Boutique hotels retain certain benefits when it comes to cost of operations and overall profitability.  They often have a large customer base to work with, as well as being favored by smaller travel agencies or tour operators that are looking to sell the “experiential” concept that the boutique hotel property has to offer.  Since boutique hotel owners do not have to pay a franchise fee to be part of a larger chain, the hotel can often operate with a lower overhead that adding costly amenities such as restaurants, spas and convention & meeting spaces would create.  However, these added amenities can generate significant profitability and appeal to the hotel’s bottom line, so more often than not you will find every sort of amenity imaginable in todays boutique hotel properties. Another benefit for boutique hotel owners is that well established small properties tend to have a higher rate of repeat and word of mouth business compared to normal industry standards, which can save on boutique sized marketing budgets rarely able to compete with the huge marketing budgets of large branded properties. Nevertheless, successful boutique hotels must continually adapt to the constantly changing trends, needs, tastes, preferences, and technology in order to remain competitive in this cut throat hotel market.

In the end, whether it’s the most isolated green hotel getaway, the most unique historical location, the most private white sand beach, impeccable five-star white glove service, or you are just looking for that travel environment that loans their son’s boogey board, gives you cookies from their kitchen, offers the most incredible personalized guest services, or located in the most super chic locale, boutique hotels in every instance cater to their guests every need and whim.  Who doesn’t want that kind of attention on their hard earned vacation? 

So for your next Costa Rica vacation, bypass that mega chain hotel and try one of the many Costa Rican Boutique Hotels, you will be personally helping keep these unique properties off Costa Rica’s endangered list!!

If you have a favorite boutique hotel you have visited, please feel free to share it with us in the comments section!!

Author:  Kimberly Barron, originally from Malibu, California has lived in Parismina and Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for 20 years.  Starting as a certified tour guide, she spent 15 years managing fishing lodges on the Caribbean Coast and later 4* & 5* Hotels on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.  Currently semi-retired, Kimberly still works as the  Marketing Director for Byblos Resort & Casino and Makanda by the Sea.

 Sources:

www.independent.co.uk

www.travelandleisure.com

www.bizymoms.com

www.travels.com

www.wikipedia.org

www.ehow.com

www.wisegeek.com

www.hospitalitynet.org

Your lucky day? A bit about the Gambling Industry in Costa Rica.

Many Options for Casinos in Costa Rica

Costa Rica, though not generally the first choice for a gambling themed vacation, has over the last few years continued growing as a new destination for those that enjoy playing their hand at poker, especially the popular Texas Hold-em. Few know that there are now prestigious International tournaments held in Costa Rica several times a year, with a decent selection of smaller tournaments found throughout the country year round. The larger tournaments now attract a number of Internationally recognized players, driving the stakes higher and bringing the excitement to a completely new level.

Historically, the gambling industry has always generated high-revenues, even more so when located in already popular tourist destinations. With Costa Rica’s continued growth as one of these popular tourist destinations, the tourism industry has served to fuel the success of Costa Rica’s burgeoning gambling industry.

Whether dealing with an online sports betting operation or visiting one of the 30+ Costa Rican Casinos, employees are almost always young, good looking, averaging between 18-30 years old, and earning anywhere from $600 to $1,800 USD a month. Since the average Costa Rican salary hovers around $400 USD per month, jobs in the gambling industry can be very attractive for those willing to work the demanding hours.

Costa Rica has a wide range of games to choose from, many with a set of rules unique to Costa Rica itself. The most popular Casino game found in Costa Rica is “21”, also referred to as “Rummy”. This is played similar to Blackjack, but with some of those special Tico rules applied. To start, you’re dealt two cards. You may request another card, or stay with the two you have if you are close to 21. Equal to Blackjack, the goal is to get as close to 21 as possible, without going over. Face cards count as 10 and Aces count as 1 or 11, but here is where the twist kicks in……if your first three cards are three of a kind, or a straight (ex: 6, 7, & 8 of the same suit), you have a “Rummy”, and the payout doubles. If you’re lucky enough to have your three of a kind consist of all 7’s, this adds to 21 and results in an even higher payout. Unfortunately, if you happen to get 21 with just the two original cards, or get five cards without surpassing 21, in Costa Rica, there is no double payout, as is common in many other International casinos. Also, splitting pairs is permitted, as well as doubling down is permitted. In many cases you may find yourself losing on a push with the dealer, as the odds generally lean heavily towards the house.

In most of the bigger Costa Rica Casino facilities you will find rows of the typical Vegas Style coin and Electronic Slot Machines, Electronic Poker Machines, Canasta (aka: Roulette), Caribbean Stud Poker, Pai Gow Poker, Craps, Mini-Baccarat, Rummy Blackjack and Tute Poker, a Costa Rican favorite.
Costa Rica’s gambling industry is not without controversy, and has garnered some additional unwanted attention and scrutiny in the last few years. Recently, legislation was presented requiring new casino regulations restricting operating hours to no more than 12 per day, along with limiting the number of machines and tables for both new and existing resort facilities. While existing operators have since challenged the law, they warn it is still likely to have a material effect as the majority of the proposals are expected to eventually pass.

To be more specific, the Costa Rican Government enacted Decree no. 34581 at the end of June 2008, two months after then Vice-President Laura Chinchilla, since voted in as President of the Republic of Costa Rica on February 7, 2010, stated her intention to subject the country’s casino industry to more stringent regulations, specifically in the wake of the announced entry to the gambling market of Russian casino developer Storm International, rumored to be engaged in a sophisticated form of organized crime.

Chinchilla, also serving at the time as the Minister of Justice to Costa Rica, promised that these new regulations would “restrict the industry, rather than encourage it.” The final Decree emphasized that casinos “must be understood as an incentive for tourism” and that “it is in the public interest to regulate the operation of casinos so that their functioning serves to stimulate tourism in the country, without causing moral damage.”

The new regulations, not widely enforced at this time, largely conform to those measures previously proposed by then Vice-President Chinchilla, and implemented by the then standing President Oscar Arias. These regulations extended limitations of normal operating hours from 6pm until 6am, where in Chinchilla had previously declared all casinos in Costa Rica would be restricted to only operating from 6pm to 2am. The softening of her position may have been brought on by the imminent elimination of approximately 3000 jobs which would have been eliminated right in the middle of the ongoing global recession registering record numbers of unemployed. To this day, casinos pretty much work the hours they want, as there is no solid regulation in place.

Nonetheless, the Decree does impose major restrictions on new casino projects to be built in the country, limiting such projects to 3-star hotels or above, having a minimum 60-room capacity, and not permitting any stand alone gambling operations to be built.

The new decree also contains strict limits on the number of slot machines and gaming tables permitted in gambling establishments, capping them at 10 tables total and no more than 60 machines for a 60-room hotel. Operators are permitted to add an additional machine for each room above this 60-room capacity, with an extra gaming table for each additional 10 rooms will be permitted as well. Though overall restrictions will limit the size of the gaming section of any developing property to no more than 15% of the total area of construction.

Once a loosely regulated industry, now prior to opening, casinos will have to obtain the approval of Costa Rica’s Ministry of Public Security that recently declared gambling a “sickness”, as well as authorization from local authorities and permits by ICT, the governing tourism board that will partially serve as a watchdog.
As if this part wasn’t touchy enough, Costa Rica is home to more than 200 online gambling companies. Due to the absence of legislation aimed directly at online gambling, the operations of Costa Rica-based gaming companies are for the most part not subject to the regulations, monitoring, and testing to which most offshore governments subject their licensees. Most of these companies are, or at least were self-regulated. With the lack of an official entity to recognize license holders, there is presently no betting or gaming tax. Instead, companies operate under a “data processing” license.

In September 2007, the PAC (Partido Accion Ciudadana) introduced a bill that would tax Casino and Sportsbooks Operations based on the number of employees on their payroll. The annual tax would kick in on operations with at least 10 employees charging a fee based on the total number of employees. They were also seeking to set a licensing scheme in place that would require Online Casinos and Sportsbooks to register with the Economic, Industry and Commerce Ministry. The Costa Rica Finance Ministry is proposing a 2 percent tax on income earned by the gambling industry. The government believes it can generate $85 million as a result, something that would help fill the government coffers which have suffered as the global economic crisis grinds on.

Jorge Hidalgo, vice president of the Costa Rican Association of Casinos, said the industry is among the hardest hit by the recession. “Activity has fallen about 35 percent, and in addition to that we have fewer work hours and have had to let go about 500 employees,” he said.
Government officials have refuted any notion that Costa Rica’s move to tax and regulate gaming was related to the country’s inclusion alongside a list of countries that failed to meet international tax standards that was published by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in April 2009.

Costa Rica’s reputation as an online gaming jurisdiction has also suffered significantly since the United States’ crack down on gaming websites that has encompassed both the 2006 passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the collapse of Costa Rica-based and London-listed operator BetonSports who’s former-chief executive David Carruthers pleaded guilty to violations of US gambling law following his 2006 arrest in Dallas, Texas while in transit between London and his Costa Rican home.

In the end, the future of the gambling industry in Costa Rica remains strong, but with eventual tougher regulations and limitations. Unfortunately, it will not be able to regulate the daily gamble that exists in Costa Rica when it comes to dealing with bad drivers, pot holed roads, ever rising prices, government red tape, the fluctuating value of the colon, teak farm investments, real estate transactions, or any other of the many risky endeavors we gamble with every day in Costa Rica!

For your convenience, Byblos Resort & Casino offers all the amentities of a 3-Star Boutique Adventure Resort while maintaining it´s Jungle Ambiance.  Enjoy Wildlife & Ocean Views, our Poolside Bistro Restaurant, Billfish Sportsbar & Grill and the Byblos Air Conditioned Casino.  Centrally located to Manuel Antonio National Park, Beach, Tours, Spas & Restaurants, all close to Quepos, Costa Rica.

Author: Kimberly Barron, originally from Malibu, California has lived in Parismina and Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for 20 years. Starting as a certified tour guide, she spent 15 years managing fishing lodges on the Caribbean Coast and later 4* & 5* Hotels on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Currently semi-retired, Kimberly still works as the Marketing Director for Byblos Resort & Casino and Hotel Makanda by the Sea.