What Qualifies You as a Buyer for a Confidential Hospitality Mandate

Short answer: credibility, specificity and discretion. Not size. A single family buyer with clear funding and a written mandate is qualified. A large fund that will not say what it wants is not.

Why screening exists

An advisor with a signed sell-side mandate has promised an owner that their financials, payroll, title and identity go only to buyers who have been checked and have signed. Every disclosure is a small risk taken on the seller’s behalf. Screening is how that risk is managed, and it is also why the good assets are available to you at all.

Separately, Costa Rican escrow and closing are subject to anti money laundering supervision. Source of funds review will happen. Starting it early prevents a delay at the worst possible moment.

What is actually checked

Identity and vehicle. Who you are, and which entity would acquire. If the vehicle does not exist yet, say so and describe the intended structure.

Funding. Availability, source and form. A range and a credible description early; documentary proof later, under NDA, at the appropriate stage.

Intent. What you want and why. An advisor is matching you to a seller who often cares about more than price: staff continuity, the concept, the community, the family’s name on the place.

Capacity to execute. Whether you have Costa Rican counsel, an accountant and a realistic timeline. First time cross border buyers qualify easily by appointing advisors early.

Discretion. How you behave on the first call. A buyer who pushes for the property name before signing anything has told the advisor exactly how they would treat the seller’s information.

What is not required

• Being an institution or a fund.
• Prior hotel ownership.
• Cash sitting in a Costa Rican bank account.
• Residency.
• Buying the largest asset on the register.

How to pass without oversharing

Provide a written mandate, a clear funding description, your appointed or intended advisors, and your timeline. Offer proof of funds on request under NDA rather than attaching it to a first email. Sign NDAs promptly. Ask good questions about the process rather than pressing for names.

That is the whole test, and most buyers who fail it fail on discretion rather than on money.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading: How to Get Access to Off Market Hotels in Costa Rica.

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CHN Hospitality Partners is an intermediary in hospitality businesses in Costa Rica, not a real estate agency. We work in hospitality only: operating hotels, lodges and resorts, non-operating hotel properties, commercial development land for hospitality projects, and joint venture opportunities. No houses, no vacation rentals. Every asset on our register appears at invest-costarica.com under its CHN reference code: public listings show the destination and the verified facts the owner allows, silent listings show only a key count and a regional pin. The property’s identity is disclosed only after buyer registration and a signed NDA for that specific asset. Register at invest-costarica.com, or write to tara@invest-costarica.com.

General orientation only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.