Levin family ends connection with the Capital hotel as Joanne Taylor-Stagg is appointed GM
The Levin family's connection to the five-red-AA-star, 49-bedroom Capital hotel in London has ended following the appointment of Joanne Taylor-Stagg as general manager.
Taylor-Stagg (pictured right) will replace Michael Purtill who was on a six-month contract to cover Kate Levin's (pictured left) maternity cover.
Purtill is leaving the UK to move to Boston in the US to join his partner who is employed in a potentially ground-breaking medical research programme to find a cure for blood cancer. He is a seasoned hotelier with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and more recently was the opening general manager of the Principal hotel in Manchester.
The appointment of Taylor-Stagg will end the Levin family's 49-year relationship with the hotel. Kate's father David Levin, 83, who was named Hotelier of the Year by The Caterer in 1994, started building the Capital in 1969 and opened the business two years later.
The hotel was sold by the Levin family in January 2017 to the US-based Warwick Hotels and Resorts.
Kate Levin said that it was "a wrench" to step away from the Capital, but had decided that after nine years as general manager of the hotel, she could no longer give the business the attention it deserves and so will not return. Her son Harry was born in December.
She said: "Being general manager of the Capital is more than just a job, I was extremely passionate about it and very proud about the position we had got the hotel to. It is a wonderful hotel that has been a part of my family for all of my life.
"So it is with a lot of sadness I'm going to say goodbye, but I know that I leave the hotel in very capable hands."
Kate Levin and Taylor-Stagg know each other as fellow St Julian Scholars within the Master Innholders.
Taylor-Stagg, who will join the Capital on 21 May for a two-week handover period with Purtill, left the Trafalgar St James, London, last month, where she was general manager for two years. Originally from South Africa, she has also worked as a divisional director for RBH (formerly Redefine|BDL Hotels) and general manager of the Crowne Plaza London Docklands.
In her new role, Taylor-Stagg will oversee the 12-bedroom Levin hotel, the 12 Capital apartments and the London Bakery in addition to running the Capital.
"The Capital has been a stalwart of the London hotel scene for so long," she said. "I have some tough shoes to fill, but I shall be very pleased to get stuck in to what is a pretty damn awesome property."
Richard Chiu, president of Warwick Hotels & Resorts has confirmed that he is investing in the Capital "with the vision of enhancing its position as one of the finest small hotels in London".
The Capital has been home to a restaurant run by Cornwall-based, two-Michelin-starred chef Nathan Outlaw since 2012.
The Trafalgar St James appoints Federico Ciampi as general manager >>
Michael Purtill to replace Kate Levin as GM of the Capital hotel >>
The Capital and the Levin hotels acquired by Warwick Hotels and Resorts >>
