Graduate by Hilton Princeton

This hotel was so gross. Lobby and vibes seem cool but my room had hair and a smudge on the bed (you can draw your own conclusions about how it happened). I had to ask to change rooms bc they just said they’d send house keeping. The next room had a blue contact lens on the floor in the bathroom that stayed there my entire stay. House keeping entered my room with the DND sign and would not come with it off - I was stuck there 10 nights for work. I watched house keeping’s “cart” and the vacuum was just a lint roller. I’m not kidding. They also put someone else’s information on my account so I can’t even get points for this mess. Front desk won’t answer the phone. Do not stay here if you can help it - grossly over priced for motel quality room. Bring a flashlight for the “closet” btw. Location is great.

Room was beautiful and very tidy/clean. Also extremely spacious. Lobby was busy with dining guests and after hours bar goers, but I’d suspect there was a game or something going on at the school as well that brought more traffic into the building. Parking and valet was a bit backed up and chaotic but they did a good job regardless. Had to circle Palmer Sq once or twice before realizing you have to pull into the valet area which looks like a parking garage.

Stayed in this hotel the night of my wedding in Princeton. The location is perfect and the staff is very kind. We wanted to spend the extra money to be close to our event and have a elevated experience staying at the graduate on such an important occasion. We were extremely disappointed that the AC was not working and we entered the room to find a box fan used as supplementary air flow. We were not told at check-in that the AC was not working. It would have been nice if we were warned about the lack of AC on a 75 degree day. The box fan also fell multiple times during the night. Upon entering the room we also discovered that the door did not lock. The lock mechanism was broken. Since it was late and there was a lack of staff presence we were not lucky in finding someone to help us. This is a menial complaint but we woke up the morning after and wanted a coffee but they said they do not offer room service. When I booked this room - the amenities featured were "Bed and Breakfast". I would have assumed that we could get coffee to our room. That was my misunderstanding I suppose. For the exorbitant price we paid for the room, while it is decorated beautifully, we were so disappointed that we spent our wedding night in a hotel without a working lock or AC.

The location is the best thing about the hotel and the food and bar are good. The hotel itself is run poorly. Person at front desk greeted me by telling me that I'm in a double queen. When I explained that I had a king and could show her the print out, she said they were sold out as if it was my problem. Hospitality 101 seemed to be lost on her. I asked for a credit toward breakfast which she agreed to, but her attitude was that this was my problem. At night, people basically were holding a party in the hallway. Loud noise up until 1 AM. Today, the room was unmade. So that hotel operations seems unmanaged or poorly managed. The restaurant part is strong. Location is the thing that makes the place. I'll think twice before staying here again.

This is a review for the Restaurant, we did not stay in the Hotel. We were there for brunch and it was excellent. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was elegant, and the prices were reasonable (for the environment). The room evokes images of Great Gatsby, Princeton as it was imagined (not necessarily as it actually was). ||||The service was less than perfect, but OK. Go for the food and the experience.

I found this gem in April, and it is now my "go to" hotel when I am in the Princeton area. The rooms are well-appointed, quiet, and exceptionally clean. The lobby is a nice little oasis of reading spaces, good food and a bar with an "excellent vibe." ||The hotel is fairly new, I believe that it has been in operation a little over a year, so everything is relatively new. Beyond that, though, the location is fantastic! Princeton University is literally across the street; there is a myriad of restaurants within a few minutes walk of the hotel, and the Princeton University Art Museum is close by! ||The great setting and the amenities in hotel are underscored by the kindness of its employees. I don't like to "name names" because I always feel like I leave someone out, but the experience was so good here that I feel compelled to do so. I interacted with Scott and Delante (both at the front desk) Catherine and Eddie (at the bar) Andrea (at valet parking) and wonderful Megan at breakfast.| |All of these people made my comfort and satisfaction their mission! Judging from the smiles I've seen on the faces of other patrons in the hotel, I'm absolutely convinced that they do the same for each of their guests!

This is a nice hotel with great location and elegant decor. There are a lot of photo ops in the lobby. Room was nicely decorated with a touch of classiness. It was a great stay for our weekend getaway.||Unfortunately, the experience was considerably when we had to interact with the front desk staff. The front desk staff tried to nickel and dime us on the Hilton Diamond food & beverage credit by falsely claiming we had a one-person reservation (with a passive aggressive tone). I had booked for two and provided both our names in the online reservation, which somehow at checkout was suddenly on record again. We of course didn't bother using any of that credit and just went dining elsewhere. ||They also tried to discourage us from inquiring about the parking charge by exaggerating the amount of the effort needed to do anything other than paying the bill with the company directly. For those not in the loop, this is yet another Hilton property that uses PMC and requires you to pay parking separately through a QR code (while collecting PII like emails and address etc.) I should mention though, the actual valet staff from PMC were much nicer and more helpful.||Overall this is a nice property to stay at, if you can avoid dealing with front desk. Use mobile key and touchless check out.

The hotel itself is very nice and modern. Lots of cool nods to Princeton. It’s overall very nice hotel. The rooms are a good size and the beds are comfortable. It’s a very walkable area. The rooms for our business meetings were very tight and the AV was ok but took a while to get running. The worst part of the hotel is the parking. To check in there is no where to put your car. The valet wasn’t very understaffed. There was a line of cars all the way out to the street trying to get parked. And same when we were leaving. It took 20+ minutes to get my car and the person working was completely overwhelmed. For such a nice hotel the parking was a major turn off. Not to mention I was there for a little over 24 and paid over $50 for parking.

We stayed here in October 2024, and it was the best sleep I have had in years! It was so quiet and the bedding was just right. The pillow was soft and mattress was the perfect level of firmness. The shared library-themed area was perfect for days when you need to work from the hotel. They should be offering free coffee at this price point, instead I walked outside and went to the nearby cafe. I visited The Graduate by Hilton hotel in Providence, Rhode Island and it was nothing like this one, everything was shabby at the other location.

I have to admit, after it took an eternity to build this gilded throwback to the devil may care opulence of the Roaring Twenties, the result is pretty damn impressive. Bathed in dark wood and even darker pricing. you'll just feel like lighting up an embargoed Cuban and foreclosing on something or someone. Honestly, it's a cross between Speakeasy chic and The Overlook bar from Kubrick's The Shining. Princeton was founded by Quakers but I doubt you'll be seeing any of their descendants here, Conrad Hilton would approve and will be smiling down relishing the lack of Riff or Raff. Have a cocktail at the bar and soothe your battered checkbook and wonder why any of the other econobox hotels along Route 1 just won't cut it no matter how many free microwavable omelets you can nuke on high. I'll give it five stars for execution but I'll be back in six months or so to see if my optimism was misplaced, Is that Mrs. Robinson I see in the corner nursing a Gimlet?

Wow! The entire hotel is beautiful ! It is warm, welcoming, well thought out. The entire staff that I had contact with was genuinely kind, and gracious ( Ben, Henry, Scott, Amanda, I can't remember the front desk team names but absolutely incredible) We ran into a housekeeping member and he was so alive with his good morning! The drinks at the bar were incredible, really good drinks! The guest rooms, were cleaned, well stocked, super soft towels, great soaps, shampoos, air conditioning was working well! Almost sound proof rooms, darkening curtains between the temperature and the curtains it was a great nights sleep! We will be back!

honestly, I would skip the bar and restaurant because it's just OK and the drinks are kind of inconsistent. However, the service is immaculate. overall, this hotel, though is beautiful, and there is an excessive amount of details into the experience that was curated there they give you a student ID as your hotel key, there is a Scantron notepad and a number two pencil in the room, the lamps and decoration are very beautiful. They also have these vintage jackets in the lounge area. Lastly, they play live music at night. That is amazing. I would 100% stay here again, but I would recommend they invest the same level of experience into their restaurant.

Another lovely stay...but another hiccup with the request for a non-allergenic room. Shouldn't be so hard...!!

This place is so beautiful! It feels like you're in the middle of NYC. It's a really perfect place for a date or even just to catch up on some work. I will say there weren't many vegetarian options but I tried the pub potatoes and the pretzel bites which were both pretty good. I didn't get a chance to try the drinks but will definitely be back

This hotel was a total miss for me. My partner and I went for a two night birthday stay. I knew immediately that we had booked the wrong venue. I stood in line at the registration desk and was stared at. No smile. No "how may I be of assistance?" Absolutely no greeting. The person behind the desk looked young like she had just graduated college. I literally had to walk up and say I would like to check in please as I have a reservation. No assistance with luggage. There are Princeton students lounging about at the bar and coffee shop area all day and all night doing homework or meeting in groups. I loved my college experience and understand that it is across the street from the university, but the amount of students utilizing this hotel as a personal study carrel does not make it a relaxing or elegant lobby experience. The hotel lobby is beautiful and adorned in wood panel. A room with a king size bed was mostly clean and stylish, although very small. The bathroom had a wonderful fountain shower waterhead which saved the entire dismal get away. The absolute worst part was housecleaning. No housecleaning came. I called up once and requested it. We came back around 4 pm and still no housekeeping. My partner knew that I was getting upset and spoke to the front desk. They assured him that they would send someone up and so did the robot who texted me checking on my hotel experience. Still nothing. The only reason we finally got housecleaning is because we flagged someone down near our room. They cleaned it grumpily. On check out day at 9 am sharp there was aggressive pounding and screaming on all the doors (including ours) that they needed to clean the rooms. We ignored them. Check out was at 11 am. While the hotel is stylish, the service is slow, rude, and very very unfriendly. That would be fine for a motel or a 1 star hotel but not a place that I spent $700.00 for two nights. The price does not justify the horrific service. On check out we were once again not greeted by the front desk. I am dumbfounded that customer service was so terrible. I will never come back here again and suggest you don't either. I have stayed at motels and one star hotels and bed and breakfasts with much friendlier and polite staff. They need to train better or significantly lower their costs.

Absolutely stunning hotel right in the heart of Princeton! As a Diamond Hilton member, I've stayed in everything from modest Hilton Garden Inns in Atlanta to the opulent Conrad in Las Vegas, so I know a thing or two about hotel experiences. And this place? It's a gem! Let's address the elephant in the room--yes, the food can be pricey and somewhat average. But honestly, that's pretty standard across many hotels, even at top-tier spots like the Conrad. So, it's not a dealbreaker. What really stood out was the exceptional service. Scott at the front desk was a superstar! His warmth and attention made our first stay memorable, and the fact he remembered my name throughout our visit was a thoughtful touch that made a big difference. My son, an upperclass Princeton student, was thrilled to see Princeton memorabilia, especially from his eating club, "Cap and Gown." We snapped tons of photos and adored how the Princeton spirit was woven throughout the hotel and into our rooms. Speaking of rooms, ours had a chic dark theme and incredibly powerful showers--definitely a highlight for me. Comfortable beds made our stay even better. As a Diamond member, we got a $30 food and beverage credit, which we used for breakfast. The avocado toast was on the pricey side at $13, but my breakfast sandwich for $8 was a steal--hot, delicious, and perfectly made. Peter, the lone server, handled everything with grace and efficiency. We're coming back in two weeks with our daughter, who just started college at NYU. Can't wait to relive the Princeton experience and create more amazing memories!

The shower is NOT HOT. I've had hotter water in a swimming pool, but they refuse to make it hotter than 100. Plugging in your devices is a challenge, and that is the one thing that should be the most useful part of a hotel room, besides a hot shower. Leaving me a kettle with only instant decaf coffee where the only plug is in the bathroom is like a slap in the face, my very cold face thanks to your shower. Take your nanny state hotel and shove it up your shower head.

We tried the restaurant for lunch in The Graduate hotel for the first (and probably last) time. The decor and overall setting is fantastic - colorful, comfortable, full of local Princeton ambiance, and with lots of natural light. We had high hopes for lunch. While service was fine, the food was disappointingly forgettable. My husband ordered a turkey club on challah. He asked them to hold the avocado, but discovered after the first bite that it was mixed into the spread. We wiped it off. The roll wasn't challah - more like a small brioche bun which would have been nice too, but didn't impress. And the French fries were as my husband put it, like every other Marriott room service French fry. Nice looking, but not that hot, not that flavorful, and seemed a little stale to bite. I ordered the sweet potato chili. It was actually quite good. But seemed somehow incomplete. No side of bread like a cornbread, a teensy dollop of what I believe was sour cream but hard to tell. And served in a melamine orange bowl. Cheery, but more diner like than the atmosphere promised. Given the other options in Princeton, we'll steer clear of this place in the future. Just not worth our time.

Amazing bar downstairs, great atmosphere, good service, gives a new look to Princeton!

Very poor, slow service and limited menu with average food. Disappointing experience.

Hotel is beautiful , service is terrible. Room was cold. They said the heat was working but would only go up to 67. Restaurant is very small and table service is slow.

Imagine being this fancy and high class just to deliver awful, over priced food, and skimp cocktails. I assume they were built to make the nassau inn look better