Obituary: Michael Purtill, hotel businessman

Michael Purtill, who has died at 69, was founder and former managing director of QHotels, whose estate of 26 properties and resorts includes Oulton Hall and The Queens in Leeds.

A well-known and highly respected figure in the hospitality sector, he had more than 30 years’ experience in hotels, having originally qualified as a chartered accountant, working on acquisition and development opportunities in the high-end residential property world.

It was when the portfolio of British Transport Hotels came to market in 1982 that he secured eight of them on behalf of a private client, and in so doing ignited his own passion for the industry. He subsequently developed the Principal Hotel Group from 1984 and Paramount Hotels from 1994.

Most recently, he built up the QHotels estate – which he and colleague Ian Goulding founded with just two properties in 2003 – to a value in excess of £500m. At the time he stepped down in 2017, when the business was sold to the investment firm Apirose, it employed more than 5,000 people.

Mr Purtill was married to Trudi, who had been his development director at QHotels.