Each year there’s a lot of anticipation about which hotels in North America will join AAA’s prestigious 5-Diamond list. This is a tough club to join as the physical requirements to meet are daunting and there are a lot of expenses involved, such as having a high staff-to-guest ratio and people who can speak multiple languages.

Three new hotels made the list in Mexico: the St. Regis Punta Mita Resort in Nayarit and two hotels that are walking distance apart on the other coast: Mandarin Oriental Riviera Maya, and Rosewood Mayakoba. Naturally, we have reviewed all three of them already. Follow the links for detailed info.

Who got dropped, you ask? None of them in Mexico actually. The six that lost their ranking are in the U.S.

There’s a lot going on outside of what we cover in detail here, so today we’ll take a step back and look at the travel and real estate news for Latin America.

- Argentina seems to have backpedaled on its unpopular decision to start soaking North American and British visitors an extra $130 or more for the pleasure of spending their money in the cash-strapped country. For the moment anyway, no announcements or collections have taken place. It looks like they have figured out that travel will nosedive when word gets out, especially for families.

- Costa Rica has added a new property tax on houses and condominiums valued at more than $180,800 according to International Living. It’s either a Robin Hood play or a contribution to a good cause depending on how you look at it, with the money going to build affordable housing for locals currently living in shantytowns. Either way, it’s probably not going to impact whether you buy there or not: at a rate of .25% up to $1.36 million, the tax on a $500,000 condo would be $1,250 per year. Still that is far higher than any other country in the region and Costa Rica already has some of the most expensive coastal real estate between Los Cabos and the bottom of South America.

- The always buzz-worthy Francis Ford Coppola has opened another lodging property, this time in Argentina. We won’t be reviewing it since it’s more a rental villa than a hotel, but Jardin Escondido is in the artsy Palermo Soho neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It’s a three-level townhouse that can sleep 13, with a large pool courtyard.

- Conde Nast Traveler just put out its 2009 Hot List for hotels. The Latin American coverage is pretty skimpy, but that’s okay. We’ll continue to bring you detailed reviews of consistently great hotels rather than the trendy flavors of the moment. They did touch on a few we’ve reviewed already though in Luxury Latin America, including Casitas del Colca (Peru), Inkaterra La Casona (Peru), and St. Regis Punta Mita (Mexico).

When there is a notable new luxury hotel opening in Latin America, we try to get one of our correspondents in there to check it out. We recently posted a review of the brand new St. Regis Punta Mita resort, north of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

For many years the Four Seasons has had this beautiful peninsula to itself, but all along Punta de Mita was planned to be a multi-resort, golf, and real estate development project.

So what’s the difference in the two resorts? They can mainly be summed up as “kids” and “golf carts.” Upscale families love the Four Seasons and it shows. The resort had to build an adults-only pool (with no view of the sea) a few years back to appease couples trying to get away from the racket at the main pool. The kids’ club there is very popular. At the St. Regis, however, families aren’t the focus.

Also, you can get around this hotel fine on just your own two feet.

At 22 acres, the St. Regis is less sprawling than the Four Seasons, so you’re less likely to see golf carts whizzing around the property. This contributes to an atmosphere of appealing hushed elegance.

Don’t get me wrong: you are likely to have a lovely stay in this dramatic location no matter which of these two resorts you choose, assuming you’re prepared to drop most of your cash eating and drinking on site, far removed from Puerto Vallarta. But the key point is, now you can choose. Real the full review of St. Regis Punta Mita.

It looks like Starwood is waking up to the growth in Latin America and has announced some major expansion plans. Some of the hotels look like they’ll be the usual ho-hum corporate cookie-cutter types, but a few may be worth a look.

St. Regis Hotel, Mexico City
Opening sometime in 2008 and located on Reforma Avenue. As is all the rage these days, the 189 rooms will be joined by 100 residences for sale. (If they other St. Regis properties are any clue, residences will be far nicer and have better amenities than we lowly hotel guests receive.)

St. Regis Resort, Punta Mita
Same story here, with a mix of private villas and a hotel. With a 2008 opening around the corner from the Four Seasons Punta Mita. this will bring some serious competition to the prime coastal land north of Puerto Vallarta. “The hotel will feature 120 magnificently appointed guest rooms and suites, each with its own outside shower, and approximately 65 luxury villas for both fractional and whole ownership.” Look for a 10,000 square foot luxurious spa and fitness center.” (Funny though, last time I had a room with an outdoor shower it was less than $5 a night in Bali.)

The Westin Resort & Spa Roatan, Honduras
The pickings are slim for Honduras luxury hotels, so this is a welcome announcement, even if it does mean the beginning of the end for “no-chain-hotels” Roatan Island. Scheduled to open in 2008, this is also a huge hotel by Roatan standards, with 164 guest rooms, plus the requisite “individual residences and villas” to create a chair shortage at the pool.

The St. Regis Resort & Residences, Costa Rica
Not sure yet where this is in Costa Rica, but opening in 2008 in an ocean-front location, with 133 luxury guest rooms, each with a spacious outdoor terrace. This sounds worth a visit: “the cliff-side Presidential Suite boasts three large bedrooms, a private pool and spectacular views of both the jungle and the Pacific Ocean.”

W Santiago Hotel, Chile
I’ve been wondering when Starwood would see what’s going on in Buenos Aires and finally open up a W somewhere down here. Here’s the flack line: “Scheduled to open in 2008, the W Santiago Hotel, Chile is poised to become Santiago’s ultimate flirty escape and a destination in itself.”

If Starwood has bought your loyalty with their rewards program and you’re eyeing the points on your trip south, see the full press release here.