London's Dorchester Hotel to sell Qatari sheikh's car over unpaid £460,000 bill

One of London's most famous luxury hotels has been given permission to sell a Qatari sheikh's car after he allegedly failed to pay a hotel bill of nearly £460,000.

The Dorchester sued Sheikh Nasser bin Abdullah al-Thani, a member of Qatar's ruling family, in March over unpaid room charges and other costs.

A London court ruled in favour of the five-star Mayfair hotel in July, with court documents showing it was seeking more than £458,000 from the sheikh.

And now the hotel is going after his car.

District Judge Michael Javaherian gave The Dorchester permission to sell al-Thani's 2011 Fiat 500 Abarth Tributo Ferrari, a limited-edition model with Ferrari-inspired styling.

Selling the car won't come anywhere close to clearing the bill.

The model has fetched a median resale price of around £23,500 since 2020, barely 5% of what the sheikh allegedly owes.

Rooms at The Dorchester start at around £1,000 a night and can cost more than £8,000, meaning the disputed bill is equivalent to months in some of the hotel's rooms.

Al-Thani did not attend the court hearing and was not represented by lawyers.

His lawyers have since disputed the debt, telling the Financial Times that the sheikh had only recently learned about the proceedings and that they had not been properly served on him.

They said he would seek to have the judgment set aside.

Al-Thani previously served as vice-president of Spanish football club Malaga, where his father was the majority shareholder.

He also appears to have a taste for expensive cars. His social media has featured a Lamborghini Aventador and a rare Mirage GT based on the Porsche Carrera GT, including a 2015 picture of his Lamborghini parked outside The Dorchester.