Doyle, (Paschal) Vincent (P. V.) (1923–88), hotelier and builder, was born 17 May 1923 in Dundrum, Dublin, one among seven children of Michael J. Doyle, builder and farmer of Frankfurt Villa, Dundrum, and Eileen Doyle (née Lawlor). He was educated at the CBS Westland Row. On leaving school he worked in his father's building business, and at the age of 22 built a public house and leisure complex, the County Club, in Churchtown, Dublin. The success of this early venture facilitated his move into the hotel business. With the proceeds of the sale of the County Club, he constructed a hotel in Mount Merrion, Co. Dublin, where he later lived, which he called the South County Hotel. He subsequently sold this establishment to finance the Montrose, a new hotel closer to the city, south of Donnybrook. Within five years a further three hotels were added, all in Dublin.
His well appointed, competitively priced hotels offered an alternative to the higher-grade hotels in the city, in that they catered predominantly for a middle-income customer who was enjoying the first fruits of economic prosperity in Ireland. Doyle was a pioneer and a visionary in identifying new trends in the tourist and leisure business. In 1972 he was awarded the United Dominions Trust (Ireland) prize for his contribution to the tourist industry. A year later he was appointed chairman of Bord Fáilte by the minister for transport and power, Peter Barry. This was met with opposition by some who saw his new position as an opportunity to advertise his core business. Despite such reservations, he worked with great energy on behalf of Bord Fáilte and had one of the best attendance records of any member. A well liked figure, he retained his position in Bord Fáilte for the rest of his working life, surviving many changes of government in the meantime.
A committed catholic, he was a founder member of the finance committee of the Dublin archdiocese in 1972. He also contributed richly to many worthy causes and associations. He took a particular interest in health care, and was a member of the board of the Meath Hospital, the board of the central council of the Federated Dublin Voluntary Hospitals, the board for the Employment of the Blind, and the National Kidney Research and Treatment Project. In 1975 Stonewall University, Massachusetts, USA, conferred on him an honorary degree in business administration, and two years later he was appointed to the board of UDT bank.
With the building of the Berkeley Court (1978) and the Westbury (1984), his hotels moved markedly up-grade. By this time he was the most successful hotelier in Irish history, providing more than 1,500 bedrooms in Dublin city alone. In 1981 the business became international with the purchasing of a stake in a 100-room hotel in Washington DC. His company, the Doyle Hotel Group, subsequently acquired a second US hotel in Connecticut and a small luxury hotel in central London. The expansion of his hotel business was complemented by increased activity in other areas of building. He was responsible for housing developments in Dublin's wealthier suburbs such as Blackrock and Foxrock. His open-plan designs for his apartment buildings also constituted something new on the Irish market. Vincent Doyle, as he was known to friends, died at a private hospital in Dublin on 6 February 1988.
He married a former nurse, Margaret; they had two sons and three daughters. The elder son, Michael, took over the building side of the business, and the younger, David, looked after the hotel side; both of them left the company in the 1990s, after which control passed to their mother and sisters, Anne, Eileen and Bernie.