I'm not completely sure, but I seem to remember that the actual effective rates stayed the same when the hotel made this change. The Sheraton Heathrow did the same thing - I suppose they were being effectively penalised on the SPG.com rate listing since the other hotels were advertising VAT exclusive prices and therefore appearing first when ordered by price.

For the Americans complaining about the price of breakfast in upscale London hotels: London is an alpha city on the scale of New York, and the dollar happens to be weak at the moment - live with it.