Employees of the former Secrets Hotel in Anse Marcel attend a press conference Wednesday as the union describes a worsening situation with the hotel unlikely to reopen. (Robert Luckock photo)
ANSE MARCEL--Committee Social et Économique (CSE), the union supporting the 122 employees left out on the streets after the abrupt closure of the former Secrets Hotel, renamed Saint Martin Beach Resort, in Anse Marcel in December 2025, has warned of a major social scandal of “exceptional gravity.”
Since the CSE last spoke to the media on February 13, 2026, it says the situation has worsened significantly with no agreements reached between the hotel owners (off island) and CSE despite an initial intervention by the court to hear both parties.
According to CSE, management attempted to justify the abrupt closure by invoking an alleged risk raised by the safety commission , supposedly making continued repair operations at the hotel impossible. The commission’s visit register was presented to CSE but contained no order for the hotel to close. It merely recommended that works be completed within two weeks.
The full report transmitted late in January confirms no closure requirement existed. Furthermore the Préfecture explicitly confirmed that no administrative order mandating closure had been issued.
“The immediate and total closure can only be interpreted as a manoeuvre aimed at justifying a massive job cut plan, targeting more than 90% of the workforce,” CSE reasoned. “The strategy is further undermined by vague and non-binding communication regarding the future. The redundancy plan mentions only a hypothetical start date for works, with no timeline or reopening commitment.”
Even more concerning, internal communications demonstrate a deliberate strategy of degrading activity to create economic conditions used to justify layoffs.
The hotel capacity was progressively reduced from 258 rooms to 165 and then to 120, through organised measures including the closure of an entire building without prior information or consultation with CSE in violation of fundamental social dialogue rules.
“The way the owners orchestrated the closure, we don’t believe they want to do hotels,” CSE Secretary Ingrid Mathurin told the Daily Herald at the press conference Wednesday. “If they do, they don’t want the staff because staff are expensive. They want fresh blood which is why they refuse to give us a guarantee of re-employment if and when they reopen. We know they are interested in condominiums and if they do that, they will outsource employment.
“The owners are not genuine,” she added. “They are just fooling the government by saying they want to reopen. But they have not presented any plans for repairs, how long it’s going to take, etcetera, or when they want to reopen and how many staff they will take.”
Mathurin said employees will get severance pay and some will have to claim unemployment benefit, but for a limited time of one or two years maximum.
“What happens after that? You receive about 80% of full pay. They will be looking for jobs but there are none to be had because the market is so small. We need to have an economy that is active to have jobs,” she stressed.
The employee protection plan approved by the Labour Office, she described as “completely empty” and favours the owners rather than the employees. The file was dealt with in Guadeloupe.
“Normally a priority plan of re-employment is for one year but we wanted it extended to three years because the hotel could be closed for up to three years for repairs, but they refused. We wanted to be sure that we would have the opportunities when they reopen but it’s not happening. Within the plan there is no concrete evidence that they (owners) really want to reopen.”
Asked what measures CSE will take now, Mathurin said they are discussing their options, and it will most likely be legal options as they have lawyers. At the same time the owners have spent heavily on numerous consultants as well as two Paris-based law firms specialising in economic layoffs.
Mathurin pointed out the French side has no hotels that can accommodate very large groups, disclosing the French side Lions Club has had to book a Dutch side hotel for its convention in May 2027 because of insufficient rooms on the French side.
Mathurin criticised the powers that be at the Collectivité and the Préfecture for not “shouting out loudly” about the situation, instead of focusing their attention elsewhere. It took the intervention of Senator Annick Pétrus for the labour inspection authority to contact CSE. Since then authorities have been regularly informed of the situation. Pétrus may have to intervene again, this time in Paris.
“I just don’t understand how so much attention can be focused on something like Air Antilles when there is a social crisis going on here, and no one in authority is addressing it. The employees feel totally abandoned,” she said.
Saint Martin Beach Resort was the second largest employer on the French side with 100% local employees. If it does not reopen, it will join the list of French side hotels that have closed: La Belle Creole, Flamboyant Hotel, and Mont Vernon. A question mark hangs over the Whimsy Hotel- MGallery Collection in Marigot where renovation work has come to a complete standstill, despite assurances the hotel will open in 2027.
