Hilton is in talks to buy campus-focused Graduate Hotels brand

HILTON Worldwide Holdings is in talks to buy the Graduate Hotels brand, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

The hotel company is discussing acquiring the brand, which is attached to more than 30 locations in the United States and the United Kingdom, and would not involve taking on Graduate’s real estate, said the sources, who requested anonymity discussing confidential information. A transaction has not been finalised and talks could fall apart or another buyer may emerge.

Graduate Hotels, backed by AJ Capital Partners, opened its first locations in Athens, Georgia, and Tempe, Arizona, in 2014, and most recently debuted a Palo Alto hotel near Stanford University, according to its website. The brand focuses on locations near college campuses, including in the UK where it has hotels in Oxford and Cambridge.

Representatives for Hilton and AJ Capital Partners declined to comment.

Hilton has generally focused on developing new brands internally, while its competitors Marriott International and Hyatt Hotels have used deals to expand their portfolios. But Hilton’s strategy may be changing now. The company was among potential buyers for the NoMad Hotels brand, Bloomberg reported last year.

Hilton, which is scheduled to report earnings later this week, has seen its stock climb 54 per cent from the end of 2022 to Friday, outpacing the gains in a Bloomberg index of Americas lodging companies. Analysts at Baird suggested in a Feb 4 note that the company’s surging stock price may make other avenues for capital deployment such as acquisitions more appealing. BLOOMBERG