The £5 coffee and hotel rip-offs

They are bywords for elegance, luxury and style, a pampered world where no indulgence is too much trouble and anything can be had for a price.

But London's leading hotels have another reputation - as some of the world's top exponents of the five-star ripoff. According to a new book they are guilty of everything from defrauding customers to charging a 500 per cent mark-up on a cup of coffee.

"The mark-ups are extraordinary," say the authors of Hotel Babylon: an anonymous manager said to be running a leading London hotel, and writer Imogen Edwards-Jones. Examples of overcharging include £10 plus service for coffee for two, and a full English breakfast, costing 50p to make, but £25 to the customer.

The book, which claims to expose "the decadence and debauchery of the ultimate service industry", describes the business as "a licence to print money - not only for the managers, owners and shareholders, but for the people who work there. From chambermaids' tips, to doormen making £2,000 a week, to the concierge taking backhanders - everyone in the hotel is on the make."

The hotel business appeared unconcerned by the book. A Savoy Group spokeswoman said: "We do not feel we have to defend anything. It bears no relation to reality." Of the Savoy's £4.50 cup of coffee, she said: "You pay for where you are. It's for service, and overheads. We don't feel we have a case to answer."

Five-star mark-ups