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A London court has allowed a luxury hotel, The Dorchester, to sell a limited-edition car belonging to Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, a member of Qatar's ruling Al Thani family, after he failed to pay a hotel debt totaling about £458,000 ($620,000).
The five-star hotel in London's Mayfair district took al-Thani to court in March over unpaid accommodation and room charges, according to the Financial Times.
The Central London County Court ruled in favor of The Dorchester in July, ordering al-Thani to pay about £198,000 in accommodation costs as well as interest and additional sums that brought the total amount owed to roughly £458,000.
Following the ruling, District Judge Michael Javaherian also gave The Dorchester permission to sell al-Thani's 2011 Fiat 500 Abarth Tributo Ferrari.
Despite its Ferrari branding, the vehicle is a special-edition performance version of the Fiat 500 produced by Abarth, rather than a Ferrari sports car.
The sale is expected to cover only a small share of the overall debt. According to The Classic Valuer data cited in the report, the model has recorded an average second-hand sale value of around £23,500 since 2020.
Rooms at The Dorchester reportedly start at around £1,000 per night and can rise above £8,000, while the hotel is said to limit continuous stays in some rooms to 30 days.
Al-Thani did not attend the hearing and did not send a lawyer to represent him. Court records reportedly listed his address as Al Wajiba Palace in Doha.
His lawyers later argued that he had only recently become aware of the case and that legal documents had not been properly served on him.
They also disputed the amount sought by The Dorchester and said they would move to have the judgment set aside.
Al-Thani, who does not hold an official government position in Qatar, previously served as vice president of Spanish football club Malaga, where his father held a majority stake.
He, his two brothers, and his father were removed from the club's management by a judge in 2020 following allegations of financial irregularities.
Malaga had previously moved close to the upper levels of European football before financial problems and breaches led to a temporary ban from European competitions and a later fall as far as Spain's third tier.
The club returned to the country's top division this year.
Al-Thani's social media accounts also feature numerous luxury cars and hotels, including a Mirage GT based on the Porsche Carrera GT and a Lamborghini Aventador. In 2015, he shared a photograph showing the Lamborghini outside The Dorchester.
His account has also included posts from luxury hotels in Geneva, Paris and Kuwait.
Members of Qatar's ruling family have significant interests in London's luxury hotel sector.
Investors led by former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani control the Maybourne Hotel Group, which includes Claridge's, The Connaught and The Berkeley.
The Dorchester, however, is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, which is linked to the government of Brunei.
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