Graduate by Hilton Princeton

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.

The Graduate is our new favorite date night destination. With all of the competence and professionalism you can expect from Hilton and the unique atmosphere that only a Princeton property can bring, it’s a beautiful hotel with a boutique vibe. It’s hard not to fall in love with the decor. Downstairs, the lobby and restaurant are lively. We had live music on a Saturday night and enjoyed the company of other hotel guests and the hospitality of the staff. Upstairs in the rooms, the textures of grass cloth and sisal paired with beautiful linens and patterned pillows made it feel especially luxurious. Everything about our stay was lovely and we cannot wait to return.

Great service and a great location! Scott went above and beyond to ensure we had a room that perfectly accommodated us and our pups, which made all the difference. The hotel is conveniently located near everything we needed, making it easy to explore and enjoy our stay. The staff was friendly and attentive throughout, and the atmosphere was welcoming from the moment we arrived. We felt truly cared for—and so did our pups! Highly recommend and would definitely stay here again.

Nice hotel. Good location though parking (as for the whole area) is rough and limited to garages only. Overall nice, but odd room setups. Plastic cups provided rather than glass. Vent in bathroom with no working fan or switch Very clean Beautiful lobby area with seating on one side and restaurant/bar on the other, and a coffee bar in the middle

I loved this hotel! The rooms and common areas were so well appointed and fun with the Princeton theme. (Whoever came up with the Graduate concept is a marketing genius.) ||The lobby was spacious with high ceilings and a very active bar scene. The front desk was efficient and helpful with getting us a late checkout for one of our rooms, which made things a lot easier for us.||The rooms were great - clean, comfortable and with quality furnishings. And we were able to get connecting rooms, which was nice.||The location is perfect for visiting Princeton - right in Palmer Square and very close to the university.||Valet parking wasn’t an option for us unfortunately, as they were full. But we were able to park at the nearby Chambers Street Garage.||I would absolutely stay here again, it was fantastic all around.

I stayed at the Graduate Hotel - Princeton to drop my daughter off at a Princeton sports camp for the week. It was a unique circumstance in that we were carrying a 15 foot bag full of pole vaulting poles. The valet / entry point to the hotel is very narrow, however, the hotel staff came out and immediately helped. They offered to store this unusual luggage for the evening, as we did not have to check-in to the camp until the following day. ||The front desk staff, Scott W and Anna were incredible helpful throughout the stay, like seriously above and beyond. One of my best lodging experiences and I’ve had over 1k hotel night stays. ||Kudos to this property and their team.

We stayed here Sunday to Tuesday in April 2025. We booked a King room and were excited to have a new hotel in town to try out after many stays at the Nassau Inn and the Peacock Inn.||I concur with prior reviewers about the strangeness of some of the decor choices. For example, the furniture in our room has fake drawers that do not open.||We also suffered from the HVAC system shutting itself off on its own. Both nights around 2am the air conditioner, which we set at 67 for sleeping, shut off. The room then heated up to 75 on its own and we both woke up too hot to sleep both nights at 3am. We had to get out of bed and turn the system back on manually both nights to get the room cooled down enough to sleep.||We had a poor check in experience. We arrived at 1pm and I had noted in the Hilton app that the rate available today was lower than the rate we had prebooked. The front desk agent refused to adjust our rate to the current rate - I have done this so many times before and have never had a problem - saying they cannot do so and that if we canceled our reservation to rebook the current rate, we would be billed for one night of the old reservation in addition to the new charges. Then the agent told us that there was a $50 early check in up charge because we had arrived before 4:00 p.m. and our choice was to wait for 3 hours to check in or to pay an extra $50 to be able to get into our room which was already ready. I asked them to waive the early check in upcharge and they said no they were not able to do so - a clear lie since another reviewer here has said they were able to check in early with no fee. ||When we got to our room on the 5th floor, it was tiny. There's no room for our suitcases, and the closet is so small there is no room to hang full length clothing. We literally have to step over our suitcases to get into the bed.||I called down to the front desk and asked them if they had any larger room available and they told us that all of the king rooms were exactly the same size and the only option was to pay an extra $500 a night to upgrade to a suite.||All of the rooms being the same size doesn't match the pictures of the hotel layout that I can see on the back of our door, but at this point I was not in a mood to argue with them as we tired from traveling and at this point everything that I asked them for was met with an answer of "no" so it seemed as if there was no point.||On the positive side, the public spaces are nice and as with the other Graduate properties that we've stayed at, someone clearly spends a lot of time trying to customize the property to the local college look and feel.||When we arrived, the main lobby seating was full of what I assume are Princeton students taking advantage of the Wi-Fi, so there was not really any room for hotel guests to hang out.||We appreciated our room key which looked like Brooke Shields' Princeton student ID.||I went downstairs to the health club, which is in the basement and which is accessed via a separate small industrial elevator hidden next to the bar not the regular hotel elevators, and the workout room was large with an industrial feel and with several treadmills and a few weight machines but there is no steam room or sauna or jacuzzi tub or showers which is what I was really hoping for.||So all in all I would say that it's nice to have an alternative to the other two hotels here in Princeton and hopefully more competition in Princeton will help all of them raise their game. Just be prepared for very small rooms and pack accordingly.

I was one of the guest at this lovely hotel facing a church from my window view. It brought me solas as I sat there to write an elegy for my mom’s passing. The employee who’s name is “Marcus Thompson” was there as along the journey helping us maintain some humor, making sure me and my sisters were hydrated after learning that my mother died. He seem to make it his personal agenda to say caring words and help us with suitcases and make recommendations to relax at restaurants . I really wish there were more like him. He needs a raise!

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