Flaunting Their Wealth

With rooms costing up to £5,300 a night, they are not the sort of hotels where you'd expect to find many Ford Fiestas in the guests' car park. Vehicles parked outside the five-star Dorchester and Wellesley hotels in Mayfair, central London included Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Bentley. The specific cars models on display included a green 217mph Lamborghini Aventador worth £295,000 and a blue 202mph Ferrari 458 worth £200,000. 'The Dorchester's most expensive room per night is the £5,315 Harlequin suite, while the top one at The Wellesley is the £895 Hyde Park View Suite.' (Daily Mail, 18 August) This ostentatious display of wealth is occurring at the same time as millions of workers are concerned about mortgage payments, rent arrears and bedroom taxes. RD