Investment director Joshua Pritchard told The Morning Advertiser (The MA) that the group views ongoing investment as a key tool for navigating cost pressures.
“We remain committed to reinvestment and growth, which is a fundamental mitigant to cost pressures,” he said. “We pride ourselves on creating compelling environments for our guests and enhancing their experience, particularly through our food and drink offer.”
He added that the forthcoming Autumn Budget will be “an inflexion point” that may influence spending plans going into 2026, but reaffirmed the group’s long-term commitment to capital deployment.
‘Little and often’
RedCat takes a needs-based approach to capex, balancing investment in historic properties with targeted growth projects.
“We invest a little and often to maintain quality, but the lion’s share of our focus has been around growth,” said Pritchard. “We draw on our teams’ experience at site level to unlock new revenue streams and support local operations.”
The company uses suite of financial KPIs to measure return on investment, including net present value, internal rate of return and payback period, alongside operational metrics such as sales uplift, room rate growth and guest satisfaction.
“We’re financially disciplined in all forms of capital deployment,” he said. “While financial KPIs come with the territory, customer satisfaction is central to our investments.”
Accommodation and carvery
Accommodation and carvery formats remain strategic priorities for RedCat. The company has invested heavily in its accommodation and revenue management capability, which Pritchard said has “given us confidence to invest in both existing and acquired sites.”
A £3m refurbishment at the Castle Hotel in Brecon delivered a 94% uplift in sales, and accommodation across the estate is up 8% like-for-like this year.
RedCat is also expanding its carvery model following the success of a £600k refurbishment at the Clock Tower in Bowthorpe, which introduced ordering kiosks to improve service flow.
“It was a neat operational solution to queuing constraints,” Pritchard said. “Post-investment, sales rose from £30,000 to £40,000 a week, and we believe the site has more to give.”
Further carvery rollouts are being considered across the estate.
The group continues to target underinvested hotels with 30 or more bedrooms, using capex to restore and reposition properties. The latest example is the Warwick Arms Hotel, acquired in June and currently undergoing a £1.7m refurbishment ahead of reopening in mid-November.
“We focus on taking underinvested sites and, with capital investment, bringing them back to their former glory,” said Pritchard.
The business is also trialling voltage optimisation technology across several sites to reduce energy usage. Early results have been “quite positive,” and a wider rollout is being assessed.
Beyond physical upgrades, RedCat has invested in digital infrastructure with the recent relaunch of its websites to improve user experience and conversion.
“We’ve created content-rich websites that both engage the customer and make the booking process simpler,” Pritchard said.
Looking ahead, he said the company remains focused on disciplined, opportunity-led capital deployment.
“Investment will always be a central driver for us,” he added. “We just need to see what the Budget sets as a context for next year, but our commitment to growth and reinvestment remains the same.”