Who Owns the Ritz London?

The Ritz London is owned by a member of Qatar’s ruling family circle. Companies House records Mr Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri, resident in Qatar, holding 75% or more of Ritz Hotel (London) Limited (The) (00064203, incorporated 17 November 1899). And the register contains a trap: a different company, The Ritz Hotel, Limited (00048125, incorporated 1896), was Mohamed Al Fayed’s — and relates to Paris. Ownership verified 6 September 2026.

Who owns Ritz London today?

The hotel on Piccadilly is RITZ HOTEL (LONDON) LIMITED (THE), company number 00064203, incorporated 17 November 1899 — six years before the hotel opened in 1906.

Its active person with significant control is Mr Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri, country of residence Qatar, holding 75% or more of shares and voting rights with the right to appoint and remove directors, notified 31 January 2025.

He bought the hotel in 2020 from the Barclay brothers for a reported £800m. He is a member of the Al-Hajri family and connected by marriage to Qatar’s ruling family.

Ultimate parent and corporate structure

There is no group above the hotel. Al-Hajri holds it personally, which is unusual for an asset of this value — most trophy properties sit behind holding companies, funds or offshore vehicles.

The register shows him moving between structures, and the dates are worth reading closely:

• 19 June 2017 — a “no registrable person” statement is filed, later withdrawn on 8 August 2018
• 8 August 2018 — Ritz Holdco Limited notified at 75%+
• 12 January 2023 — Ritz Holdco ceases; Al-Hajri is notified personally
• 31 January 2025 — Ritz Holdco is notified and ceases on the same day; Al-Hajri is re-notified personally

An entity notified and ceased on a single day is a filing correction, not a two-day ownership. The overall movement — from a holding company to an individual — is the reverse of the usual direction, and it makes the register more informative than it would otherwise be: the actual owner is named rather than a vehicle.

Major shareholders or controlling persons

One man holds it. There is no consortium, no fund and no minority investor on the register.

The hotel’s casino is a separate business. The Ritz Club operated under its own arrangements, and gaming is licensed by the Gambling Commission rather than being a feature of the hotel’s ownership — a distinction worth keeping, because the club and the hotel have not always had the same operator.

Official records and evidence

Every company number, date and PSC entry above comes from Companies House and can be checked directly. The ownership is register-verified, including the owner’s name and country of residence — which is rarer than it should be for an asset of this kind.

The trap is the other company, and it is a serious one. THE RITZ HOTEL, LIMITED (00048125), incorporated 29 May 1896 and previously named The Ritz Syndicate Limited, is a different company entirely. Its PSC register records:

• Mr Mohamed Al Fayed, at 75% or more, from 6 April 2016 until 30 August 2023 — the day he died
• Ritz (Paris) Holding Ltd, a Jersey company
• an active “no registrable person” statement since 16 October 2023

Al Fayed owned the Ritz Paris, not the Ritz London. An English company named “The Ritz Hotel, Limited” sits in the ownership chain of a French hotel, while the London hotel is held by a company with “(London)” in its name and a different number.

Anyone searching Companies House for “The Ritz Hotel” and reading the first result would conclude the London Ritz belonged to Mohamed Al Fayed. It did not, and it never has. The numbers are 00064203 for London and 00048125 for Paris. Companies House does not verify most filed information.

Ownership history and changes

The Ritz was built by César Ritz and opened on Piccadilly in 1906, the first steel-framed building in London.

• 1899 — Ritz Hotel (London) Limited incorporated on 17 November.
• 1976 — bought by Trafalgar House.
• 1995 — bought by Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay for a reported £75m.
• 2020 — sold to Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri for a reported £800m, in a sale the Barclay family disputed among themselves.
• 2023, 2025 — the holding structure changes on the register.

The Barclays’ twenty-five years produced a return of more than ten times the purchase price — one of the more successful trophy property investments of the period, and one that ended in a family dispute over how the sale was conducted.

Related companies and brands

The Ritz London is not connected to Ritz-Carlton, which belongs to Marriott and is a separate international chain, nor to the Ritz Paris, which has been owned by the Al Fayed interests since 1979. Three famous hotel names, one origin in César Ritz, three entirely separate owners.

The Barclay family’s other British interests included the Telegraph titles and Very Group. The Telegraph’s ownership is covered elsewhere on this site; the Ritz sale was part of the wider unwinding of those holdings.

The hotel is not part of any chain and has no parent group. It is a single building, held by a single individual.