On Panama’s Caribbean coast, La Coralina Island House offers a very different interpretation of luxury.
Located on Isla Colón in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, the retreat feels wonderfully remote, despite being just a 45-minute direct flight from Panama City or San José, Costa Rica. For co-founder and Managing Director Ariel Barrionuevo, its appeal lies in the rare sense of authenticity that still defines the destination.
He said:
We fell in love with what I would call its barefoot luxury. There is an authenticity here that is becoming increasingly rare.
Ariel’s connection with Bocas del Toro began long before La Coralina opened. He and his wife had visited the archipelago for years, eventually creating Casa Coralina Private Estate, their own Balinese-inspired retreat overlooking Paunch Beach. It was while living there that the idea for La Coralina emerged.
“What if we could share this feeling with others?” Ariel recalled asking. The result was deliberately different from a conventional luxury hotel. Rather than creating a highly choreographed experience, the aim was to make guests feel as though they had arrived at an exceptional private beach house – somewhere that immediately feels like home.
Ariel said:
We wanted to create the feeling of arriving at a beautiful beach house where the hardest part is simply getting there. Once you arrive, everything else should feel effortless.
That philosophy is reflected throughout the property, where the rainforest and Caribbean Sea become as much a part of the guest experience as the architecture and service. Birds provide the morning soundtrack, waves accompany guests into the evening, and the tropical landscape creates an environment where the pace naturally slows.
For Ariel, this connection with nature also has a deeply personal origin. He noticed that every time he visited Bocas del Toro, he slept exceptionally well.
I would fall into a deep, restorative sleep unlike anywhere else. I always returned home feeling genuinely renewed.
That experience became one of the inspirations behind La Coralina, and helped shape his belief that luxury is not necessarily defined by what surrounds a guest, but by how they feel when they leave.
It is a philosophy that marks a significant evolution in Ariel’s own career. Before moving to Panama, he spent more than two decades in urban luxury hospitality, working with brands including Sofitel and Faena in Buenos Aires. Those years taught him the importance of precision, detail and memorable service, but eventually he wanted to explore a different expression of hospitality.
I wasn’t looking to leave luxury hospitality behind; I was looking to redefine what luxury meant to me.
Today, that definition is less concerned with excess and more with emotional impact.
Here, luxury is measured less by excess and more by how people feel. Where silence has value, nature becomes part of the experience, and hospitality is expressed through genuine care rather than formality.
That approach is particularly relevant to the property’s wellness proposition. As hotels increasingly incorporate spas, treatments and wellness programmes, Ariel believes the industry needs to look beyond the traditional definition of wellness.
For many years, the hospitality industry understood wellness as a collection of treatments – a spa, a massage menu, perhaps a yoga class. Those elements are still valuable, but they no longer define a wellness destination.
Instead, he believes the most successful wellness experiences should influence every stage of the guest journey, from sleep and food to architecture, service and the relationship with nature.
People don’t simply want to return home relaxed; they want to return home different. More rested, more present, more connected to themselves and to the people around them.
For La Coralina, that means bringing together the rainforest, the sea, holistic programming, nourishing cuisine and the warmth of its team to create an environment conducive to genuine reconnection. Yet Ariel is keen to stress that the principles can be applied anywhere – including in the UK.
We are fortunate to have the Caribbean, tropical rainforest and year-round warm weather. But I don’t believe wellbeing depends on geography; it depends on intention.
For British hotels, that could mean creating spaces for stillness, introducing thoughtful architecture, focusing on healthier food, developing meaningful rituals or simply allowing guests to experience a slower pace. Such thinking echoes the way a recent £700K investment transforms a city wellness destination closer to home.
Sustainable wellness isn’t about helping people escape their lives for a few days. It’s about helping them return to those lives feeling more conscious, more balanced and more themselves.
The same sense of intention applies to sustainability. Through Coral Nation, La Coralina supports conservation initiatives and works to connect guests with organisations including Mother of Corals, which is focused on restoring and protecting coral reefs. For Ariel, sustainability should not be regarded as an additional expense, particularly when many meaningful changes can simultaneously improve efficiency and the guest experience.
“Many of the most meaningful initiatives require more commitment than capital,” he said, pointing to reducing food waste, eliminating unnecessary plastics, supporting local producers and training teams to operate more efficiently.
Crucially, he believes hotels have an opportunity to extend their environmental impact beyond their own operations by educating and inspiring guests.
Perhaps the greatest contribution a hotel can make is not only reducing its own footprint but also inspiring thousands of others to rethink theirs.
So, what would Ariel hope a UK hotelier might take away after spending a week observing La Coralina? Perhaps surprisingly, it isn’t a particular service, amenity or operational trick. Instead, it is the value of time.
I believe that one of the greatest luxuries today is time. Our guests travel not simply to see a new destination, but to reclaim something that has become increasingly scarce in modern life: the time to rest, to reconnect, to reflect, and simply to be.
That belief influences even the smallest decisions at La Coralina. Sometimes the answer is another experience or amenity; sometimes it is simply a quieter garden, a slower breakfast or a meaningful conversation.
Ultimately, Ariel believes the future of luxury hospitality lies not in continually giving guests more, but in helping them rediscover what modern life so often takes away.
The future of luxury hospitality is not about giving people more. It’s about giving them back what they value most: their time, their presence, and the opportunity to reconnect with themselves and with others.