Owners of the Ritz London consider sale of hotel for record-breaking £800m

The owners of the Ritz London are considering a sale of the iconic luxury property with a price tag that could make it the most expensive hotel in history.

According to a report in The Times today, the Barclay family is looking at options to off-load the five-red-AA-star, 136-bedroom for a reported £800m, a figure that is equivalent to nearly £5.9m per bedroom.

The Barclay family, headed by twins Sir David and Sir Frederick, bought the hotel in 1995 through its company Ellerman Investments for £75m from Trafalgar House. In the intervening years, the family has since bought and sold the Cavendish London hotel and last year acquired the Beaumont hotel after Corbin & King relinquished the lease to freeholder Grosvenor.

In the most recent financial results for the Ritz London, lodged at Companies House, the hotel reported a 2.2% increase in turnover to £47.08m, with a pre-tax profit of £7.03m down from £12.8m the previous year.

Earlier this year, the hotel was the focus of a four-part ITV documentary Inside The Ritz Hotel in which executive chef John Williams, who heads the hotel's one-Michelin-starred restaurant, played a starring role.

The Ritz London was launched by legendary Swiss hotelier César Ritz in 1906, with French chef Auguste Escoffier in the kitchen.

The hotel declined to comment.