A spate of thefts at the Belmond La Samanna hotel

The term ‘organised theft’ is certainly apt for this case, in which three friends, who were hotel employees, had hatched a plan to steal money from guests. Luxury establishments such as the Belmond La Samanna Hotel tend to keep a low profile when this sort of incident occurs and generally prefer to settle matters amicably with their guests by compensating them without any sensational publicity that might damage their reputation.
But they hadn’t reckoned with one of them, who pressed the management to call in the police after he discovered that a certain amount of cash had gone missing from his room. It was at that point that the truth came to light. The three employees involved held key, complementary roles that enabled them to carry out their scheme, believing they would not be caught: the first worked in IT, the second at reception, and the third in customer services.

A well-oiled system

After selecting the wealthiest guests who were likely to have large amounts of cash in their possession, one would fraudulently produce access cards for the rooms, the second would erase any traces of the fraudulent transactions from the computer system, and the third would ensure that the guests were well away from their rooms. They would then sneak into the rooms to steal the coveted cash (sometimes even from private safes using a spare key).
Unseen and unnoticed, all that remained was for them to divide the haul between themselves. Perfectionists to the very end, the three thieves had seen fit to set up a WhatsApp group to exchange the information necessary for their schemes, and to discuss them afterwards. Lacking any sense of discretion, one of them even deposited the money into his bank account the day after the thefts. But who actually came up with the idea? At this stage, nothing is entirely clear, as the three ‘friends’ have constantly blamed each other in court in order to minimise their own culpability.

‘It wasn’t me, it was the other one’

The fine sense of solidarity they had shown whilst carrying out their burglaries suddenly crumbled, with each of them having no qualms about shamelessly ‘snitching’ on their mates, even going so far as to cast doubt on whether the spoils had been shared equally. It was therefore difficult for the court to distinguish fact from fiction, but after lengthy deliberations, one of them was finally identified as the ringleader. On four separate occasions, between late June and early July 2025, the thieves made off with around 9,000 US dollars and almost as much in euros. 
During their hearing, they admitted that they had started robbing customers in December of the previous year, believing themselves to be above suspicion since, for six months, nobody had uncovered their dishonest scheme. And, to top it all off, the three defendants stated without hesitation that they were not the only thieves in La Samana. Indeed, according to them, there are many people who pickpocket customers, and this has been going on for a long time, but they were simply unlucky because one of their victims raised the alarm. What a shame.

Every choice has its price

Given their lack of previous criminal records, the defendants were given lenient sentences. Two have found work in the hospitality industry (yes, really) on the Dutch side, whilst the third is now unemployed. But this case serves as a telling reminder that it is common to hear frequent rumours that young people from Saint Martin are often excluded from jobs in the tourism sector, and particularly in the upmarket sector. The Belmond La Samanna hotel is proof to the contrary, but if some people fail to realise the professional opportunity available to them and engage in reprehensible behaviour, they will have nothing left but their tears.