Tamarindo Diria Hotel – Blog

As a kingpin of the community for the last 45 years, the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort has been at the forefront of Tamarindo’s improvements and aid. It makes sense for the hotel to contribute to the well-being of Tamarindo, since it draws tourism clients to the town from all over the world and has a 40 percent return rate of its guests looking to enjoy both the hotel and the town.

Looking outside its doors, management continues to work with the Costa Rica government for the promotion of Tamarindo as a tourist destination. In addition, the hotel is a chief supporter of CATURGUA, the Guanacaste Chamber of Commerce. Guanacaste is the province where Tamarindo resides.

Locally, the hotel donated gardeners work and materials for a green zone in Langosta. As the largest contributor to the Tamarindo Lifeguard program, the hotel was responsible for the safety of many swimmers. Their support extends to beach cleanups as well.

Perhaps the most noticeable of the hotel’s works came when it contributed money for the repair of the main road in Tamarindo. The town is grateful to the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort for spending the money to fix the primary road in and out of town.

Last, but not least, the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort supports CEPIA, the local organization that helps underprivileged kids with education, skills and arts. It’s work like this in the community that keeps the hotel involved and a mainstay of the growth of Tamarindo.

The Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort has quite a legacy to live up to with a name like Diria. After all, before Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in 1502, the Guanacaste province on the Pacific side was inhabited by the Chorotegan Indians. Its leader was Cacique Diria. He ultimately resisted the Spaniards that did arrive, and he paid for it with his life.

The present territory of Santa Cruz (about 35 minutes from Tamarindo) was originally called “El Paraje del Diría” by those Spanish conquers when they arrived, naming it so after the aboriginal leader they encountered. The word Diría, of course, was of Chorotega origin. It has two roots: “Diri” means hill and “A” signifying tiny, or as they perceived of the town of Santa Cruz as a small hill between two rivers.

When the Spanish arrived, according to history, the chorotegas, led by Diria, tried to preserve their territory. The pre-Columbia statue—which adorns the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort—commemorates the powerful image of a man who fought to save those people. He was someone of character and leadership who commanded big tribes and gave orders to defend his land and territory, a true hero.

Cacique Diria established identity and leadership for the area, a characteristic that also applies for the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort.

Over 44 years ago in the town of Tamarindo where only three Costa Rican families lived, a local man named Luis Medaglia built 19 rooms near a big tree. In December 1965, he opened Cabinas Medaglia. There wasn’t much call for a lot of rooms because at that time people only came to Tamarindo for the summer season from San Jose or for those who lived in Santa Cruz, it was Sundays at the beach.
But even the drive from Santa Cruz was a big expedition.
“I was the first pioneer of tourism in Santa Cruz because in the beginning there were no roads,” recalls Medaglia. “You had to cross 9 rivers from Santa Cruz and there were only 4 bridges to get from there to Tamarindo.”
And when you arrived at Cabinas Medaglia, there wasn’t any electric or running water. The power was run off a generator, the water from a well, but the facility owned an ice machine!
Tourism-wise, people were surfing, but the locals were mostly in the nearby town of Villareal. Everyone in Tamarindo was a visitor from either San Jose or Santa Cruz. The staff of the hotel all came from San Jose, since according to Medaglia, the locals were from the country and were more familiar with working with machetes than with hotel guests.
The Cabinas Medaglia served the Tico community well until May 1973, when Medaglia started construction on what would eventually become the new Tamarindo Diria Hotel. He partnered up with Danilo and Fabio Alfaro who had a Palenque Diria Hotel in Santa Cruz, and wanted to open another Diria in Tamarindo. It was ambitious at the time, as the business partners foresaw that Tamarindo would become an international tourism center years later.
The Tamarindo Diria had the distinction of becoming one of Costa Rica’s first hotels on the beach.
“The Costa Rican society would come here, because the service was very, very good,” says Medaglia.
Then in the ‘80s, just as Tamarindo exploded with a boom of tourists from the U.S, Canada, Spain, Italy and more, the Tamarindo Diria also welcomed this new clientele to its facilities. As before, the friendly and accommodating staff, and high quality accommodations pleased the new customers.
Tamarindo grew up around the Tamarindo Diria. Electricity arrived in town in 1973. The aqueduct brought running water in 1976. This only served to upgrade the services of the hotel as well.
Meanwhile, an attentive Medaglia tended to his guests, noticing that the success of the hotel depended on repeat business, people who developed a loyalty to the Tamarindo Diria. He became involved in many of their lives and they in his.
“I liked to help the people grow and change their minds, that was my best contribution to the people here,” explained Medaglia. “They started feeling at home. When my daughter was born, all the guests sent presents for her.”
Medaglia sold the hotel in 1992, when it had 82 rooms—78 rooms and 4 suites.
The buyer was current owner Wolfgang Gollas, a well known german manufacturer, who used what he experienced in the fashion business, things like aesthetics, a sense of beauty and quality, cleanliness and a customer directed comprehension of marketing to guide him.
“At that time, the Tamarindo Diria was the only important hotel in Tamarindo, and we had a vision about the future potential of a place called Tamarindo,” Gollas said. He was taken by its unique location on the beach and continued with its style of full, private service, yet began to infuse modern style into its sense of tradition.
After all, the previous owner had christened the hotel after the brave, local Chorotegan Indian leader Cacique Diria. The pre-Columbia statue—which began to adorn the Tamarindo Diria in the ‘70s and still does today—commemorates the powerful image of a man who fought to save those people from the Spanish conquerors. He was someone of character and leadership who commanded big tribes and gave orders to defend his land and territory, a true hero.
Gollas, a respecter of the Costa Rican tradition, set out to enhance it. After renovating the original rooms just after buying the hotel, the first part of the commercial center was built in 1994. In 1998, they put up the 10 Tropical Garden Rooms, followed in 2000 by 60 more rooms on the adjacent part of the hotel, along with the largest scenic pool in Tamarindo, the 300-seat amphitheatre, and the Condominiums Diria. In 2005, they finished the new commercial center, followed again in 2007 with another 60 rooms at Tropical Poolside and the huge Matapalo Condominiums building along with an overall renovation of all the older rooms.
Of course, there was the construction of the sewage water treatment plant—the first one in Tamarindo, a new tennis court, golf driving range, and an extension of the Tamarindo Airport that came along with all the new work.
Today, the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort, boasts 182 rooms most of them with ocean views, set out over 5 acres. It’s the only luxury 4-star hotel that sits on Tamarindo’s beach. Nestled among beautiful gardens, the hotel also boasts such amenities as 2 restaurants including the beachfront Matapalo Restaurant, 1 cafeteria, 2 bars, a meeting room for 40, a business center, an amphitheatre for 300, a golf driving range, a National Airport, 24-hour free guarded parking, laundry service, wireless internet in public areas, a commercial shopping area, and so much more.
“The hotel, with all its development and improvements is considered the benchmark for Tamarindo. We set the pace and direction,” announced Gollas about the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort.
It still all comes down to a personal touch. This is not a chain hotel, but a private family-owned facility maintained with the guest in mind. As a matter of fact, the next generation of the Gollas family are involved in the running of the hotel along with the Costa Rican staff, some who have worked here so long they are family.
“Since our name is Diria, the famous pre-Colombian chief of our area, we try to apply the culture and tradition of the zone in all means, like architecture, decoration, using local staff, with our food, etc. in trying to distinguish our self from the concept of replication that comes with chain hotels,” explained Gollas.
The international clientele find this mix of tradition and modern style perfect, and return over and over again. Guests come back because they have passed happy days here and receive a higher level of satisfaction at the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort than anywhere else.
We welcome you to know join our living history of the Tamarindo Diria Beach & Golf Resort.