Graduate by Hilton Dallas

Fantastic stay! The renovations are actually pretty cool, the pictures don’t do it justice. Room was spacious beds super comfortable and bathrooms great. But above all, the staff is fantastic. Helina was incredible—professional sweet courteous and so hospitable. The baristas at the restaurant made great lattes every morning. Overall, a great stay.

Google asks about “Rooms”, “Service” and “Location”: I’m happy to give The Graduate Dallas “5 Stars” in each category, and to give my fellow Google Reviews users the reasoning behind my wholehearted endorsement. We stayed in a King Suite, which was beautifully decorated in an SMU motif (the lovely campus is, after all, directly across Hillcrest Avenue). The suite was recently remodeled, and featured a great living room (large desk, plush sofa, sitting chair and new large screen Smart TV with excellent internet speed).The kitchen offered a full-size refrigerator/freezer (with the freezer on top). This unit is the largest I’ve seen in a hotel suite. The large kitchen sink had excellent water pressure. The microwave was new,, and there are enough cabinets to store supplies for a visiting football team. The bathroom offered a vanity and mirror that is separated from the toilet by a solid privacy door. The modern glass shower always provided great pressure and hot water. The bedroom had an exceptionally comfortable King, with lovely wallpaper and decor all around. A very large dresser covered the interior wall between the bedroom and the bathroom. A very large closet and three adjacent draws faced the bed on the other interior wall. The bedroom dresser wall also featured the same large screen Smart TV offered in the living room. Housekeeping staff was wonderful. They could not do enough for us. The same top notch service was found throughout the hotel. The Front Desk Manager, Gilberto, was simply a great and trusted resource for our two week stay. We also appreciated Ray’s help at the front desk. Valet parking was our first hint of what was to come, when we arrived: A very warm, Texas-sized greeting that strongly contrasted with recent experiences in the DFW area. Some may opine that valet prices seem high. They are, however, fully in line with other area hotels, and, based upon my experience, offer far better staffing. The hotel’s third strong point, its EXCELLENT location, is a major contributor to that parking discussion. The Graduate sits on a small lot, facing Hillcrest Avenue. Behind the hotel sits one of the loveliest, and most expensive (per SF) neighborhoods in the USA. They are simply not getting a garage in there! The hotel sits across from the western edge of the SMU campus. One can walk north on the avenue to an amazing selection of shops and restaurants. Once the Dallas heat kicks in, you can drive up Hillcrest to Snider Plaza, a lovely, recently restored, shopping and dining area that has everything from breakfast to late supper, CVS, major supermarket (Tom Thumb), more banks than you’ll ever need, and some very interesting independent retailers. Just avoid the Shell on Lovers Lane, at the north end of Snider Plaza (unless you “love” paying far too much for your gas). Although marketed as “Dallas”, the hotel is located in the City of University Park (known locally as “UP”). UP and its much smaller neighbor, the Town of Highland Park(“HP”), offer exceptional public safety services (visible, proactive police patrols and incredibly quick police and Fire Rescue response) to residents, visitors, and SMU students. The hotel takes the high road, and does not disparage the neighboring City of Dallas in its marketing. Your less-than-humble reporter will simply say: 1) I’ve been around crime (from rolling on the ground with felons to sitting in meetings with municipal and state leaders). 2) You want to stay in UP, and eat often in UP (there are no hotels in HP). 3) A notable and safe exception is to head south on Hillcrest to Al Biernat’s Oak Lawn. It’s less than a ten minute drive. Impeccable service and steak. 4) Don’t be fooled by locations that utilize the term “Park Cities”. You will likely be in the City of Dallas, where the incredibly dedicated police officers may not be available when you need them (as a result of longstanding staffing shortages, that are finally being addressed). The location, service, and lovely room make this property stand out, just like the UP community where it is situated.

Cute hotel, great restaurant staff. As with other reviews, check-in was ho hum. The hotel is rather loud. My neighbor was playing loud music and a loud television, which is annoying. The main noise complaint was from a very yappy dog a few doors down. I could hear it in my room over my neighbors loud television. They don’t have earplugs (complimentary or to buy). Also, they have microfiber sheets. High quality microfiber but they are not cotton. Disappointing for a premium hotel.

Stayed at The Graduate in a King Deluxe University view room with my husband for four nights. It's quite surprising that they have recently opened after renovating - or at least that's what I understood to be the case. I chose The Graduate because I thought it would be relatively new feeling. The furniture was already badly showing wear and tear to the extent that two doors on the wardrobe cupboard did not close properly because the hinges were detached. The room was dark, with only four lamps and no overhead lighting. A couple of the lamps were in odd places so that their electrical cords were stretched tight because they were a long way from the power points. The air conditioning was extremely loud. I've never heard such a loud air conditioner in a hotel before. The street noise isn't too bad - but it's obviously there. This is definitely a motel that hasn't had much of an upgrade. You could do better for the price. ||The breakfast was excellent! Speaking of which, I had chosen a rate that included breakfast. When it came time to check out, they asked if I wanted the bill emailed. However, I asked for a print-out so that I could check it - and they had charged me extra for the breakfasts! This leaves a bad taste.

The Graduate Dallas is by far one of my top hotels not only in Texas, but in the United States! The location is outstanding for wanting to get anywhere in Dallas, I personally love the proximity to SMU as well, and the employees always make me feel welcome during each visit. The property is always clean, from the lobby to each hallway/room, and the pillows, wall paper, and signage that pay tribute to the state of Texas are a very nice touch. I only choose to stay at the Graduate Dallas each time I go back, and I don't see that changing given all of my amazing experiences each visit.

I don’t always love having to stay in hotels, especially when they are chosen for me because we’re traveling for kids sports teams or as a large party where blocks of rooms have been reserved ahead of time. They’re almost always blah, impersonal, and devoid of personality, which sets me up for hyper focusing on imperfections and invariably, identification of a random stray hair (I suffer from a major hair phobia and will switch hotels if I find one in the shower 🤢) in the bathroom. |The Graduate is gloriously unique and CLEAN and so refreshingly decorated to pay homage to the movie it’s inspired by, all while recognizing the historically relevant SMU theme and notable university alumni! The room keys are modeled after student id’s with Eric Dickerson’s photo, school ID number, and signature on the front, and his student tenure on the back! For those that don’t know of him, Dickerson was a decorated football player for SMU that went on to play in the NFL. The room was decorated in a fashion consistent with a college grad returning to his childhood bedroom and period appropriate with richly wallpapered horses one might find in a young boys bedroom decades ago. Notepads by the bed mimic scantrons or testing sheets for noting a student’s test answers, along with a freshly sharpened #2 pencil. The room was immaculate and the bedding consisted of 2 types of pillowcases, satin and cotton, to accommodate preferences. So appreciated since my daughter’s silk bonnet was packed away! We showered, sans stray and offending hairs, with glorious water pressure and Malin Goetz shampoo and body wash! It was just absolutely wonderful and served as the perfect salve to disappointed and exhausted heart. |We ended up paying for 2 different hotels that night, with The Graduate being the second hotel of the two. We were not able to get the first hotel refunded because the cancellation policy, even though I was falsely promised accommodations, but the experience we walked into at The Graduate more than made up for the lost funds from the first hotel. How did we stumble upon this jewel, since it wasn’t the Hilton Reservation specialists that got us here? Well… |We were arriving later than expected after a full day of packing and loading and I was all set to stay in any of the nicer Hilton’s in downtown Dallas to be close to the apartment we were moving our daughter into that weekend, and called the Hilton reservation number while in route, to confirm that the valet or hotel parking situation could accommodate an oversized vehicle, aka a U-Haul. I didn’t care what we needed to pay so long as we were assured a luxuriously soft bed and secure parking for the mixing truck. After explaining all of this and sitting on hold while their booking agent called around with our criteria, we were steered away from booking at the Curio or Canopy hotels I originally wanted, which were less than a mile from the Uptown location I was aiming for, and instead booked me at the Homes 2 Suites in the hospital district, assuring me that our moving truck would parked directly in front of the hotel and watched overnight for extra security.|I was skeptical, given my knowledge of the various tiers of Hilton hotels, but went with it exhausted and ready to be done with the day. Well, I was right to be skeptical and upon arrival, and a quick convo with the front desk attendant, discovered that the “secure parking located right in front of the hotel” was in fact on the street at a parking meter in a sketchy area nowhere near our ultimate destination.|I cried and was so tired that I couldn’t even think straight to pull us out of the situation. |So, with my limited knowledge of the Dallas landscape, I thought my best option was to find something near Southern Methodist University (SMU) since one of our sons had played a collegiate basketball game against them a few years back, and I remembered the area being safe.|We found The Graduate right across the street from SMU and the valet assured me we were in a nice area, that had its own police department even though they’re still considered Dallas, and he’d personally watch our moving truck even though he didn’t think it was necessary given the low crime rates. He wasn’t wrong and the truck was exactly as we’d left it the next morning.

A disaster since the switch from Hotel Lumen to Graduate Hilton. This went from a stylish hotel that I have stayed at since 2011 to the hideous cheap Texas decor which is the Graduate. The restaurant used to be well run with servers and is now a semi self serve 'Cantina' in Highland Park - come on guys - know your market! My room had no hot water for the first 24 hours and then no water pressure after they 'fixed' the hot water problem. Tried to get hold of management to discuss the issues and give feedback and no response, which personifies the whole experience.

We had a great time staying here for the SMU football game. Borders campus and easy 10 minute or so walk to the stadium. Rooms were SMU themed and very cute. Would definitely stay here again if visiting a student or going to an event at SMU.

I stayed at the Graduate Hotel in Dallas since I was in town for work, and thought it was super cute! My room had a fun cowboy/western theme and the room itself was really spacious too, with a king bed, living and dining area, desk, and a nice-sized bathroom. A couple of quirks: the shower didn't have its own light, which I found very inconvenient. I also found that a few of the chargers in the room didn't work. Not dealbreakers, just little annoyances. The biggest downside was the parking. It's valet-only and around $40 a night, which feels pretty overpriced. It's Dallas...not San Francisco. I would have been perfectly fine to do self parking. Other than that, it's a great spot--even if you have no connection to the nearby university.

Can't believe we are the first yelp review for this hotel. We have loved staying at The Graduate in other cities. Trying to visit all of them. Decor - can't beat it. Best vibes ever. Every last detail was perfection. Pool had a sign that said "no loud noises" - do they hate children? Lololol Parked in the street so we didn't for valet = winning.