The Wall Street Journal
By Maya Sweedler
In the past decade, developers around the country have added more than two dozen such hotels that maintain close ties to colleges and universities, according to market analysts.
There are a lot of branded hotels in many of these markets, said Ben Weprin, founder and chief executive of investment group AJ Capital Partners, the group behind Graduate Hotels. But, he added: “Those assets don’t have the level of bespoke humanity we bring, and the focus on how university markets work.”
Graduate Hotels is perhaps the fastest-growing college-hotel developer. Founded in 2014, the Chicago-based group has raised $1.5 billion in two rounds of fundraising, according to the company. The brand currently runs 12 hotels around the country and says it will have eight more properties open by the summer of 2020. It aims to be in 100 markets in the next 10 years.