Graduate Hotel Princeton review – The Points Guy

Although it has been more than 20 years since I graduated from Princeton University, I still know the school’s anthem, “Old Nassau,” by heart. Once a member of glee club, always a member of glee club, I suppose.

I was humming the refrain, “Goin’ back, goin’ back … goin’ back to Nassau Hall,” on a recent winter weekend while trudging from the Dinky station (a single-car annex to the New Jersey Transit network that runs exclusively between the Princeton Junction and Princeton stations) into town.

I took note of the new dorms that had gone up since my last visit nearly a decade ago and sidestepped some campus construction zones. That’s the thing about Princeton — the school holds its traditions dear, but there’s always change afoot.

The reason I had come to town was actually one such change: The town recieved its first new hotel in 90 years. The Graduate Princeton opened last August right across the street from campus, and it was with a mingling of nostalgia and excitement that I stepped through the doors into its tiger motif-laden lobby. I took what felt like a step back in time, even while experiencing something entirely new. Here’s how my stay went.

Getting to the Graduate Hotel Princeton

The Graduate Princeton is in Princeton, New Jersey, at the corner of Chambers Street and Nassau Street — the town’s main thoroughfare, which also runs right past the university’s gates.

It’s about a 35-mile drive from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). Depending on the time of day, the trip can take 45 to 90 minutes and cost around $60 to $90 with a ride-hailing service.

You can also take New Jersey Transit trains from the Newark Airport Station or New York Penn Station. This option takes about 60 or 75 minutes, respectively, and it costs about $24 (to the airport) or $20.40 (to Penn Station) each way per adult.

If you drive yourself, overnight parking costs $38 plus tax ($43 for oversize vehicles). Electric vehicle charging is not available.

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How to book the Graduate Hotel Princeton

The best way to book the Graduate Princeton is simply to make a reservation directly through Hilton. This will ensure you earn Hilton Honors points and enjoy any elite benefits you’re entitled to.

Rates tend to start at $260 per night, though they can go up to around $400. There is wide-open award availability for standard rooms starting at 50,000 points.

If you want to rack up even more Hilton points on your stay as well as enjoy elite benefits, you could consider booking with a Hilton cobranded card, such as one of the following:

• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card: Earn 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and get automatic Gold elite status with the ability to upgrade to Diamond status by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.
• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card: Earn 12 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and get automatic Gold elite status with the ability to upgrade to Diamond status through the next calendar year by spending $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year.
• Hilton Honors American Express Card: Earn 7 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and get automatic Hilton Honors Silver status (with an upgrade to Gold when you spend $20,000 in a calendar year).
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card: Earn 14 points per dollar spent on eligible purchases at Hilton hotels and receive automatic Diamond elite status and an annual free night reward.

The information for the Hilton Aspire card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Standout features

• The property has fun, university-themed decor that features Princeton-related Easter eggs everywhere.
• It offers an excellent location right in town, across the street from campus.
• There’s a lot of award-night availability.

Drawbacks

• The lobby is a happening place to hang out … and for that reason, it’s crowded at many times of day and night.
• There’s just one restaurant, and its menu is fairly limited and expensive.
• Don’t count on an elite upgrade here since the vast majority of the rooms are standards.

The vibe at the Graduate Hotel Princeton

You might not be a dyed-in-the-wool (or would it be striped-in-the-fur?), “Rah, rah, rah, tiger, tiger, tiger, sis, sis, sis, boom, boom, boom, ah!” Princeton fan. However, you can’t help but get into the school spirit when you check into the Graduate Princeton. Even the room keys are fictional student ID cards of famous alumni like Brooke Shields and Melody Hobson. (I was disappointed that I didn’t get a Michelle Obama card.)

Every square inch of the public space seems designed to get guests into an Old Nassau state of mind. The lobby features orange, black and white floor tiles that mirror the school colors; there are also enormous tiger sculptures in various poses overlooking the reception desk and the paraphernalia-filled lounge. Its double-height walls are lined with old books and vintage Princeton drinking jackets, as well as signs with the names of the university’s dozen or so eating clubs.

In fact, the ground floor lounge feels more like an eccentrically decorated version of one of the campus’ reading rooms than a hotel lobby; it has a mix of low tables with tufted leather sofas plus a 30-foot communal study table with lamps and plugs. This is undoubtedly why it’s often thronged with students cramming for classes, townies sipping cocktails and fresh-faced high schoolers in town with their parents for a campus visit.

Perhaps one day, their photos will be among the ones on display beside various other bric-a-brac like old game leaflets, theater programs and sheet music in the guest corridors. (You might not be able to tear your eyes away from the carpets, with ferocious-looking tigers prowling among the overwrought floral motifs.)

Accommodations at the Graduate Hotel Princeton

The Graduate Princeton has 180 accommodations ranging from standard king and queen rooms to one-bedroom and presidential suites. Although the layouts are fairly consistent, there might be some quirks from room to room; this is because one of the buildings comprising the hotel is new, while the other is a former dormitory that dates to 1918.

The overarching style feels like a Victorian throwback, with fanciful textiles, including orange and white seersucker curtains. Bathroom wallpaper showcases trees that represent nearby Marquand Park and Arboretum.

Guests who know to look will find a smattering of Easter eggs throughout the decor that nod to the school. These include bed frames shaped to represent an intramural sports competition called the Cane Spree that dates to the 1860s. They’re carved with references to campus and town landmarks as well as events like Hoagie Haven (a late-night lifesaver after an evening out at the Street or prepping for an all-nighter); there are also images of the mysterious black squirrels you might see scampering across campus.

Then there are the desk lamps designed to resemble the Fitzrandolph Gate’s ornate ironwork, bedside lamps fashioned to look like the Revolutionary War-era cannon buried behind Nassau Hall and cute framed caricatures depicting campus scenes throughout the years.

Among the non-Princeton amenities you will find in the rooms are comfortable white-sheeted beds with stadium blanket-style runners, dark wooden desks with rolling leather chairs and wall-mounted 50-inch flat-screen TVs, along with kettles for making provided “study blend” coffee. The curtained closets can be tiny, but they contain minifridges that you can stock on your own.

The bathrooms have glossy green tiling and walk-in showers stocked with Malin + Goetz products. That simple sketch above the toilet? It’s a reproduction of something Albert Einstein drew during his time at the nearby Institute for Advanced Study.

I’m a Hilton Diamond because I carry the Hilton Aspire card, but I was not offered an upgrade. My standard king room looked out to another wing of the hotel and was a little loud from the ventilation system. That said, hanging my pennant-shaped “Studying” do-not-disturb sign ensured housekeeping or other guests didn’t bother me.

Food and drink at the Graduate Hotel Princeton

The hotel has a restaurant, bar and coffee counter, all on the ground floor. The coffee counter is open from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and it serves a variety of coffee and tea drinks as well as sodas, juices and snacks ($3 to $7).

Taking up one-half of the ground floor and named after a bar that stood on this spot in the 1930s, Ye Tavern is the hotel’s restaurant and bar. It has a collection of smaller tables with high wingback chairs along the windows overlooking Chambers Street; larger tables separated into booths run through the center. Set against the far wall, the cocktail bar — with an intricately carved, neo-Gothic wooden counter and shelves — proves to be one of the town’s hot spots on weekends.

In a town where the bar scene can be stuffier than a sorority mixer, the menu here feels exciting and new. There’s a mix of both creative original cocktails and updates on classics grouped into three categories by year: 1825, 1925 and 2025.

The Ivy Sweater Weather is a toe-curling take on an old-fashioned with Angel’s Envy bourbon, Grand Marnier, fig syrup, cardamom bitters and a twist of orange ($15); the Silver Slipper Fizz is a refreshing concoction of sage-infused Malfy gin, Lillet Blanc, clover honey, lemon and foam ($17).

Breakfast is served from 7 to 10 a.m., and it includes items like steel-cut oatmeal with apples, raisins, cinnamon and maple syrup ($12); avocado toast ($13); and a hearty country omelet with ham, peppers, tomato, cheddar and a bird’s nest-like hash brown ($14).

For lunch and dinner (served 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.), you’ll find hearty pub fare, including starters like a charcuterie board ($26), pretzel bites with spicy mustard and beer cheese ($13) and braised short rib hand pie with mushroom and leek ($14). There’s also three-cheese onion soup ($12) and a creamily dressed grilled cabbage Caesar salad with Parmesan, anchovy and seeds ($18).

The mains are equally substantial and include beer-battered fish-and-chips ($22), Faroe Island salmon with seasonal vegetables and butternut puree ($30), ale-braised chicken with whipped potatoes and glazed Brussels sprouts ($24), and a nicely cooked flat-iron steam with herb butter, maitake mushrooms and delicata squash ($42).

For dessert, order the sticky toffee pudding ($10) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ($4).

Amenities and service at the Graduate Hotel Princeton

One floor below the lobby and accessible via stairs or a lone elevator, the hotel has meeting rooms and a small but well-equipped gym. The gym features cute murals on the wall, free weights and weight machines, two Peloton bikes, and a variety of Matrix ellipticals and treadmills.

Service throughout the hotel, including at reception and in the bar and restaurant, was casual and friendly, if not ultra-efficient. It took about 15 minutes to get a cappuccino with breakfast, for instance, whereas our dinner order came out in a rush that wasn’t conducive to coursing. There’s no one manning the Chambers Street door to help with luggage, either. Despite all that, the staff set a welcoming tone that made the whole stay positive.

Out and about

The hotel sits just across Nassau Street from the northwest corner of Princeton’s campus, so if you are in town to visit a student, it’s an excellent home base to explore the school and the town.

Across Chambers Street, there’s a new bakery with sumptuous pastries and a variety of coffee and tea drinks called Belle Journee. There’s both a coffee shop and a crepery just around the corner. Palmer Square is two blocks east, and there is plenty of shopping along the way, including Lululemon, Warby Parker, Ralph Lauren (of course) and the Princeton Art Museum Store. Keep walking in that direction, and you’ll get to the town’s other main drag, Witherspoon Street; it has some of the area’s best restaurants, including Agricola Eatery, and a bohemian old hang of mine, Small World Coffee, which is just as busy as ever.

Of course, there’s always something to do on campus, including performances, art shows and athletic competitions. You can also see what’s on at the award-winning McCarter Theater close to the Dinky station, which is a 10-minute walk down University Place from the hotel.

Accessibility

The Graduate Hotel Princeton complies with all Americans with Disabilities Act regulations. It has zero-step entrances and elevators on all its floors. The hotel also has a preponderance of accessible rooms in various categories, including wheelchair-accessible ones with lowered spy holes, roll-in showers, bathroom grab bars and extra storage. Hearing-accessible rooms have visual alarms and notification devices for phone calls and door knocks. As always, contact the hotel directly to ensure you receive accommodations that suit your specific needs.

Checking out

Although “goin’ back” to Nassau Hall has not been a frequent occurrence for this Princeton alum, my visit to the Graduate Princeton made me glad I’d taken the opportunity to do so this time. The hotel’s playful decor, fantastic location and congenial public spaces reminded me why the anthem calls Princeton “the best damn place of all.”

What’s more, the Graduate Princeton provides a great, affordable new alternative for stays right in town rather than out on Highway 1 for visitors. The fact that you can readily earn and redeem Hilton points there makes it my new favorite hotel in the area.

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