London Mayor, Boris Johnson has apologised to London hoteliers after accusing them of hiking up their prices for the Olympics and ripping off visitors, according to reports.

Back in March, the official London 2012 tour operator Thomas Cook was exposed for marking up their prices for 2012 packages by up to 200%.

In response, the Mayor accused the hotels of taking advantage of London’s guests and sending out the wrong message during a unique opportunity to sell London to the world. He said: “If some hotels want to carry on following this foolish route, who could blame visitors who conclude that their first visit to London will be their last and everyone will be losers.”

The Mayor went on to urge hoteliers to sign up to a new pricing charter in order to “to distance themselves from these sharks.”

Hotels were angered that they had been targeted by Boris rather than Thomas Cook.

In a recent statement, Boris admitted to making unjustified criticism of hotels, which was backed up by a letter to the British Hospitality Association from his Olympics advisor Neale Coleman, explaining that his boss had not been ‘fully briefed’.

More than 1.8 million people applied for 20 million Olympic tickets through the official ballot which ended last month.