A man has pleaded guilty to brutally attacking three sisters in their hotel room but denies trying to kill them.

Philip Spence, 32, admitted three counts of grievous bodily harm at London's Southwark Crown Court, but faces trial for the attempted murder of the women, who were visiting the UK from the UAE.

Ohoud Al-Najar and her sisters, Kohloud and Fatima, were staying at the four-star Cumberland Hotel near Marble Arch in London's West End when they were attacked with a claw hammer in their room in the early hours of Sunday April 6.

Police said at the time that one victim suffered life-threatening head and facial injuries, lost her left eye and significant quantities of blood.

Doctors have assessed that she has 5% brain function, although her other organs are in a good working condition.

Another sister suffered two fractures to her skull, a broken left arm and a fracture to her cheekbone.

The third sister had a fracture to her skull and a ruptured left eardrum.

Spence, from Abbeyfields Close near Harlesden in north-west London, entered the pleas last Wednesday but reporting restrictions were only lifted today.

The trial is expected to begin tomorrow.

Spence and a second man, 57-year-old Thomas Efremi, will each face one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary.

Efremi, from Upper Handa Walk in Islington, north London, pleaded guilty to fraud at an earlier hearing after withdrawing thousands of pounds from stolen credit cards.

Both men are being held in custody.

The three women had come to London for shopping and sightseeing and arrived in the UK between April 3 and 5.

An unknown quantity of property worth well over £1,000 was taken following the attack.