The Last Resort?

Mossel Bay woman defends her Mauritian dream in face-off with suspicious investors.

- Susan Puren

IN A THREATENING EMAIL SENT To Noseweek after Miranda Hartzenberg Meyer became aware that we were investigating her businesses, she described herself as “a Mossel Bay girl building a dream resort in Mauritius against all odds”.

It appears, however, that this dream, known as the Sheraton Mauritius St Felix Resort and Residences, is still on the drawing board five years after Meyer first announced it on Facebook.

Meyer is CEO of the project’s managing company, Pelangi Resorts Holding (PRH) and MD of Clear Ocean Hotel and Resort Ltd (COHR), the developer who negotiated the leasehold with the Mauritian government.

In September 2016 Hartzenberg Meyer posted the following announcement on her Facebook page:

“Officially the moment of Truth and many answered prayers. Marriott/ Starwood is now officially the Pelangi Resorts operator. We are honoured not just to be in partnership with the world’s largest hotel group but to be the first deal to be signed on the 1st business day of the Marriott/Starwood Merger. God had always delivered more than I expected but in His timing and not mine. I am honoured to have been able to work with a very special man, Michael Devereux, who has kept me going and kept me focussed in times when I needed to hear a voice of comfort that all will be fine. Thank you Michael.”

With the announcement came a picture of the event. Michael Devereaux signed as Marriott’s Senior Director Development.

On Christmas Eve, 2017, she posted another: The Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation had just reported that “we are building a 5-star Sheraton Resort and that the community of the South supports the project.”

But another year on, as Noseweek went to press, building had yet to begin – and the local community are up in arms opposing the project.