Dive Brief:
- The newest location for lifestyle brand Graduate Hotels has opened its doors in Princeton, New Jersey, according to Hilton.
- The college-town focused hotel chain renovated a historic former dormitory across the street from what is now Princeton University’s campus. The 180-room property features nods to the university’s history and a Princeton Tigers orange-and-black color scheme throughout.
- Hilton is expanding the brand amid its broader lifestyle push after acquiring Graduate earlier this year. Former Graduate Hotels President Kevin Osterhaus now leads Hilton’s lifestyle portfolio growth as the company’s newly appointed president of global lifestyle brands.
Dive Insight:
The Graduate Princeton was originally scheduled to open in December, but was delayed several times due to “structural issues,” according to the Daily Princetonian.
“Naturally, a space as layered and detailed as Graduate Princeton takes time to create – and we wanted to make the Princeton community proud by getting everything right,” a Hilton spokesperson told Hotel Dive.
Graduate’s founding firm, AJ Capital Partners, restored the Colonial Revival-style building in conjunction with architecture firm Stonehill Taylor, according to the release. The building includes 6,000 square feet of public space and a bar and restaurant, Ye Tavern.
Graduate Princeton is the first new hotel to open in Princeton in nearly 90 years, and the second ever to open in its historic downtown, according to the release. The property’s opening nearly doubles the number of available hotel rooms in town, the release said.
In a statement, Osterhaus said the property is “a stellar example of how the brand honors the unique stories of these neighborhoods and celebrates the passion and nostalgia that guests and fans feel when stepping through the doors of our hotels.”
“Princeton was at the top of our list” for Graduate Hotels when the brand launched 10 years ago, said Ben Weprin, the hotel chain’s founder and CEO of AJ Capital Partners.
AJ Capital Partners continues to own the hotels’ real estate following Hilton’s $210 million brand acquisition.
In June, Hilton announced plans to double its lifestyle portfolio to 700 hotels within the next four years — a goal that accounts for brand acquisitions, including Graduate, that have “positioned the company to further accelerate lifestyle category growth,” the company said in a release.
Hilton also acquired luxury lifestyle brand NoMad earlier this year. And the company’s partnership with boutique collection Small Luxury Hotels of the World added 400 properties to Hilton’s platforms in the second quarter of this year.
Hotel companies are turning to brand acquisitions to grow scale — and loyalty membership — quickly, experts told Hotel Dive last month.
