The Study at University City , in Philadelphia , located at the crossroads of Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania . Photo credit : Digsau
BRANDS
Making the Grade
STUDY HOTELS IS NOT IN A CLASS BY ITSELF , BUT IT ’ S RECEIVING HIGH MARKS .
By DAVID EISEN
Proof of concept . In March 2024 , Hiton agreed to acquire Graduate Hotels from AJ Capital Partners in a deal valued at a reported $ 210 million . By doing so , Hilton can lean on its vast resources and inroads with the owner community to franchise the brand , which now totals more than 30 hotels in and around college campuses . That is the brand ’ s motivation : locate hotels where a university serves as the anchor of the community .
Study Hotels , the brainchild of former Starwood Hotels & Resorts executive Paul McGowan , who is now president and founder of the brand and its development arm , Hospitality 3 , is in the same class as Graduate : building and operating hotels in college markets that benefit from the demand that universities generate .
If Hilton , a notoriously cocooned company that typically likes to create its own brands rather than buy them , saw it fit to acquire something like Graduate , then
78 hotelsmag . com May / June 2024