Graduate Hotels
Graduate Hotels opened its first property in Athens, Georgia in 2014. The city is shaped by the University of Georgia. That relationship between a town and its university became the foundation for an entire hotel chain. Ben Weprin, a Nashville-based real estate investor, built the brand through his firm AJ Capital Partners. The company's method was to acquire existing hotels in college towns and remodel them, not build from the ground up. What Weprin saw in university towns that others had overlooked, and how far the model could stretch, were questions a decade would answer.
AJ Capital Partners moved quickly after the first Athens opening. A second property came in 2014 in Tempe, Arizona near Arizona State University. By 2015, Graduate had arrived in three more cities. Charlottesville, Virginia sat near the University of Virginia; Madison, Wisconsin near the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Oxford, Mississippi near the University of Mississippi.
Ann Arbor, Michigan near the University of Michigan joined the chain in 2016. Berkeley, California near the University of California, Berkeley opened in 2017. So did Minneapolis, Minnesota near the University of Minnesota, and Lincoln, Nebraska near the University of Nebraska.
By 2019, the chain had reached as far as the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut joined that year, as did Eugene, Oregon; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Columbia, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; and State College, Pennsylvania.
The pace peaked in 2020, when eight new properties opened in a single year. Chapel Hill, North Carolina came near the University of North Carolina. Evanston, Illinois arrived near Northwestern University. Providence, Rhode Island opened near Brown University, and Tucson, Arizona near the University of Arizona.
East Lansing, Michigan near Michigan State University opened in 2021, and Palo Alto, California near Stanford University followed in 2022. Princeton, New Jersey near Princeton University joined in 2024. By then, Graduate had already taken its first step beyond American borders.
In 2021, Graduate Hotels opened its first properties outside the United States, choosing two cities in England. Cambridge, home to the University of Cambridge, received one hotel. Oxford, home to the University of Oxford, received another.
The Randolph Hotel in Oxford was unlike any other property in the Graduate collection. Every other hotel in the chain carried the Graduate name as a prefix. The Oxford hotel did not. It operated under its existing name, the Randolph Hotel, making it the only Graduate property to keep a name of its own.
Cambridge and Oxford remained Graduate's only locations outside the United States. The chain's footprint now stretched from Storrs, Connecticut to Cambridge, England.
Hilton Worldwide Holdings agreed to buy Graduate Hotels in March 2024. AJ Capital Partners did not step away from the brand entirely. The firm retained real estate ownership of all existing Graduate properties, agreeing to operate them under new long-term franchise agreements with Hilton.
Auburn, Alabama near Auburn University opened in 2024, the same year as the acquisition agreement. The arrangement gave Hilton control of the brand while AJ Capital retained ownership of the underlying properties. A Graduate hotel on Roosevelt Island in New York, which opened near Cornell Tech in 2021, closed in 2025.
A hotel near Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas was scheduled to open in 2025. One in Boulder, Colorado near the University of Colorado Boulder was planned for 2026.
Common questions
What is Graduate Hotels and what makes it different from other hotel chains?
Graduate Hotels is a collection of hotels located in college towns, primarily in the United States, with two properties in England. The chain was built by acquiring and remodeling existing hotels rather than constructing new ones, and each property is anchored to a nearby university.
Who founded Graduate Hotels?
Ben Weprin, a Nashville-based real estate investor, founded Graduate Hotels in 2014 through his firm AJ Capital Partners. The first property opened in Athens, Georgia near the University of Georgia.
When did Hilton acquire Graduate Hotels?
Hilton Worldwide Holdings agreed to acquire Graduate Hotels in March 2024. AJ Capital Partners retained real estate ownership of the existing properties, which operate under new long-term Hilton franchise agreements.
Where was the first Graduate Hotel located?
The first Graduate Hotel opened in Athens, Georgia in 2014, near the University of Georgia. A second location opened the same year in Tempe, Arizona near Arizona State University.
Does Graduate Hotels have locations outside the United States?
Graduate Hotels has two properties in England, both opened in 2021. One is in Cambridge near the University of Cambridge; the other is the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, near the University of Oxford.
What is the Randolph Hotel's connection to Graduate Hotels?
The Randolph Hotel in Oxford, England is part of the Graduate Hotels collection, opened in 2021 near the University of Oxford. It is the only Graduate property to operate under its own name rather than the Graduate Hotels brand prefix.
All sources
12 references cited across the entry
- 1This college town boutique hotel chain is the anti-AirbnbCNBC — 2018-02-20
- 3Visiting Colleges? The Era of Staying in a Sad Hotel Is OverBloomberg L.P.
- 4Loews Annapolis reopens as Graduate Annapolis following remodelSelene San Felice
- 6NewsThe Education of a BrotelierKatherine Rosman — 2018-07-14
- 8Hilton Agrees to Buy Graduate Hotels Brand for $210 MillionPatrick Clark — 14 March 2024
- 10The only hotel on NYC’s Roosevelt Island appears to be closingTime Out — November 21, 2025