When Sir Robert McAlpine, then owner of the Dorchester , commissioned the stage designer Oliver Messel to come up with what he intended to be the most luxurious hotel suite in the world, he set a rack rate of £25. The year was 1953, and in today's money it would equate to about £440 -- rather less than the £3,113.75 it charges the Hollywood stars who stay there today, writes Claire Wrathall of The Guardian.

Yet this is a sum that pales compared with the £13,000 a night Madonna, on holiday in Miami , is reportedly paying for her hotel room.

Or take the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. Held to be the most expensive hotel inasmuch as it cost £2 billion to build, it charges £7,500 for its Palace Suites.

Parrot Cay in Turks & Caicos, which styles itself as the "world's most exclusive resort," will charge US$12,000 for its Master Villa from next winter. And Room 124, as the Royal Suite at Four Seasons George V, Paris, is discreetly labelled, charges €9,000.

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