Bucket List Hotel Visit

Graduate Hotel - Chapel Hill - Sports, Luxury and Great Design

Thoughts on my one night stay in Chapel Hill at the Graduate Hotel Chain

(I am not affiliated, nor did I receive any type of compensation or discount for this post or staying here).

Exterior of Graduate Hotel *Image taken from Google Search

Ahhhhh hotels!!! They can honestly make or break a trip. Sometimes you just need a quick overnighter with no frills as you keep on driving, other times you are looking for pure luxury with the hotel being the destination (or a large part of it), and sometimes it's somewhere in between, with it being a nice place to stay; giving you no stress, and complimenting your trip. Being a designer, I LOVE a hotel with unique design, theme design or just really well put together design. Truthfully it's a dream of mine to be able to design a small boutique hotel or motel. So, in 2022 when I discovered the show Handcrafted Hotels on Discovery + or Magnolia, I was captivated. If you haven't watched this yet, it's a 24 minute, 2 season, 4 episode (in the first season) series, showcasing the Graduate Hotels. Graduate Hotels (if you aren't familiar), are a chain of hotels that are all unique to the location they are in. They are near colleges (hence the name) and are themed to that college, city or state. On a recent trip my husband and I had the pleasure of staying in one on our way home from dropping our daughter off at college. She's going to college in Virginia and our home is in Florida, so we were driving through the Raleigh, NC area and my husband suggested we stay in Chapel Hill at the Graduate after dropping her off. Of course I jumped on this idea!!!! This was the exact distraction I needed on that day.

Getting to our hotel for our visit

After departing Virginia, we had about a 3 hour drive to our hotel, putting us there around 6:30pm. Driving into Chapel Hill was very pretty. The town is filled with crepe myrtle trees, is beautifully landscaped, and has lovely brick buildings. All along the sidewalks were college kids, who like my daughter, had just moved in and were exploring their new "home". We might have missed the hotel on our first pass down the street, as we were so busy taking in the cute town. So, around the block we went and found it just fine on second pass. LOL Entering the lobby was just like seeing it on tv. The front desk is a score board with a lovely mural painted behind it. In the small lobby is a large model of an airplane light fixture, which is a hat tip to NC being first in flight. The entrance is also home to several pictures of Michael Jordan who plays a large part in the theme of this hotel, having got his start at UNC Chapel Hill. While the hotel is heavily sports themed, it also has a lovely elegance about it. It's warm, inviting, and has a really great balance of being soft and feminine along with sporty. They did a fantastic job of blending florals and sports memorabilia - HA - who knew this was a thing. My designer brain was very happy.

Check in desk

Image of Michael Jordan Lobby

Credo

Fun memorabilia

The Room

After checking in we headed up to our room. Again, even the elevator was stylish. As my hotel design teacher taught me, never forget the elevator; keep the vibe going. When we got to our floor, we turned right out of the elevator and were greeted with . . . a basketball court!!! I had forgotten about this tidbit from watching the show, but was delighted by the site! If you know me, you'd know that I have zero affiliation with sports. I don't watch them, follow them or play them. Ok, maybe the Olympics; but nothing else. So, for me to be "taken" with all this sports theming; you know it had to be good. And it was! It was so good. Right there in the middle of all the hotel rooms is a cushy, mini basketball court. The carpet was crafted to resemble a court, there are original folding chairs (from somewhere basketball court affiliated), and a rack of stuffed basketballs to shoot with. Such a fun idea! Also on our floor was the door to the Michael Jordan room. I did not know you can ask for a tour of this room or I would have! Inside it's supposed to look like his dorm room. How fun is that?? Darn that I missed this. Hopefully you can add this on your hotel visit. Anyway, we finally made our way to our own room and it was just as lovely. The headboard mimics a basketball hoop backboard, the floor is like a gym floor of old high gloss yellow pine (I think I remember it actually came from old gymnasium floors), and the furnishings and finishes are all finely selected to follow through with the theme. Again, they used florals in the wallpaper selections, fabrics and rug, mixed in with sports nods everywhere. It's like a little treasure hunt. The bathroom has a painted pink ceiling with blue floral wallpaper and is definitely not what you would expect from a sports/ college themed hotel. It's absolutely more on the luxury end; especially with the oversized vintage wood vanity and ornate wood mirror. It's these little touches that make it feel special and like being at home rather than a hotel. There were several times that I made the comment to my husband of how much I enjoy a nice hotel.

Indoor Basketball Court

Michael Jordan's "room"

King Room

Bathroom Design

The Trophy Room

After we were all settled in the room it was time to decide where to eat dinner. With both of us being exhausted from moving our daughter into college, we decided to eat right inside the hotel at their bar/ restaurant - The Trophy Room. The convenience could not be beat and it was a cool environment. There was live music while we were there and the bartender/ server Dax was great. The menu is quite small so be aware of that, but we were fine with getting burgers. They did have a few other entrees, but honestly the burger and drink hit the spot. The atmosphere was fun and in theme with the rest of the hotel. The room we sat in was painted by a local artist, who they talk to in the show. It really was a fun experience and the food was good too.

The bar and restaurant

Burger and Salad

The Drinks

My Final Thoughts

The bed was comfy, the food was good, and the design was unique and fun! It was a full experience for me and one I won't forget. The cost also was not bad for the night coming in around $145 (without the parking fee or dinner). Will I stay at a Graduate Hotel again? I sure hope so!! There are 33 of them at time of writing this post (per their website) with four more on the way. Hopefully my path will cross with another one in the near future, as they are all unique and definitely an experience. If you are near a college town on your next trip, check to see if there's one in the area!

Since we love traveling and I love theme design and hospitality, I'll try and write up our travels whenever we take them to share with you guys. There's always something in the design world I can share with you from a trip! Thanks for reading! Don't forget to sign up for future blog posts and my newsletter. And if you ever need any design help, reach out!!

Heather

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