London Hotels

Sanctum Soho Hotel in London has become the latest hospitality business to abandon service charges on customer bills following the introduction of new tips legislation. Owner Mark Fuller, who opened the hotel in the heart of London Soho earlier this year, said he was banning the 12.5 per cent service charge at the hotel and its No.20 restaurant to make bills more transparent for customers and give them the option to pay what they wanted to reward good service. He said: “Service charges cleverly manipulate prices. You head out with a budget in mind, and it's blown out of control with an unwanted tax. I want guests of my hotel and restaurant to know what they’ll be paying when they leave. “There is nothing worse than the bitter taste of a surprise bill. What you see is what you pay at Sanctum. It’s just not Rock and Roll otherwise, and I encourage others to do the same.” Legislation that came into force on October 1 has made it illegal for restaurants to use tips left for staff t

As collectors descend on London for the numerous art gallery openings this week, Londons Hotels have gone into overdrive accommodating the extra influx of poeple. This week has been the most exciting in the British art calendar: at least one mega exhibition opening every day in London; the Frieze juggernaut last weekend; blockbusters like Karla Back's sculptures at Modern Art Oxford; the photography of Martin Parr at Gateshead's Baltic; and The Long Dark at Manchester's International, a group show of industrial medievalism. Art lovers have a treat of a week ahead. So how much can one see in a day?

Former Knightrider and Baywatch star David Hasslehoff has been in trouble recently at top London hotel, the St Martin's Lane Hotel. He is rumoured to have gone on a wild drinking bender following Simon Cowell's birthday party, eventually annoying hotel staff so much that they ended up locking him in the hotel basement. But Hasselhoff lashed out and is said to have accidentally struck the physician - Dr Paul Ettlinger - in the eye. Staff then manhandled him to the basement of the St Martins Lane Hotel while the doctor called an ambulance.

The X-Factor contestants have all been rushed to stay in hotels after their house was swamped by fans. Details of the house's location were posted on Facebook and Twitter, and police were called to keep the peace. Love notes for the male contestants were also found - including some for Welsh heartthrob Lloyd Daniels.

For those who are worried about leaving their cats and dogs when going on holiday - there are catteries and kennells, and even posh dog hotels . But for those with an altogether more slithery companion, the world's first worm hotel has opened. In an increasingly eco-conscious world, there is a growing trend for keeping worm farms at home for composting - and owners who grow attached to their environmentally-friendly pets worry about leaving them when they go away. Michelle Hattingh, thought of the idea after discovering that hundreds of people had taken worms as 'eco-pets' in her home town of East London, South Africa. She said: "Cats have catteries and dogs have kennels, but there was nowhere for people to leave their worms when they went on holiday ."

Hotels in London , until recently one of the world's most expensive cities to visit, are slashing prices as they compete for a dwindling pool of overseas visitors. Average room prices in the capital are £10 lower than in 2008 and could fall by as much again this year as competition intensifies, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Hotel prices in the UK dropped by 8.1 per cent in 2009 – worse than the falls of almost six per cent in 2002. Deep price cuts are being offered by hoteliers despite a weaker pound already making travel to London better value than it has been in many years. Research by the investment bank UBS last month suggested London had fallen from the second most expensive city in the world to the 22nd most costly.