Graduate by Hilton State College

Yet another disappointing State College hotel As a longtime Hilton Diamond member and having stayed in other Graduate hotels, I was thrilled when Hilton folded this brand into the family. As I travel to State College 2x times per month and have been disappointed in other business class hotels in this small college town (all owned by the same ownership group), I was keen to try The Graduate State College. The Graduates I've stayed at previously, most notably The Graduate in East Lansing, Michigan, are incredible hotels. New construction, gleaming, super clean, excellent service. I expected the same at the State College location but was disappointed. The building is very old and it shows. Elevators are ancient, slow and creaky, and also badly beat up inside with ripped wallpaper and grime. Upon check-in, I got to my room and couldn't find a luggage rack. When I called the front desk, the person told me they get calls from nearly every guest asking about the luggage racks but they, for reasons unknown, do not provide them. I had to use a chair. I've never in thousands of hotel nights stayed at a property without luggage racks. Weird. The room itself appears nice on first glance, and in many ways was. However, closer look reveals filthy windows that were clearly not even touched or cleaned during the renovation of the building 5 years ago. They also use very odd coffee makers with no instructions and the one in my room spewed coffee over the entire bar area, not providing anything drinkable. Lastly, the HVAC units in the rooms are clearly many decades old and rattle loudly, having not been upgraded during the renovations The real deal breaker is the service. The messaging service in the app was not monitored, taking away a normally useful way to communicate with the staff like in any other Hilton property. The bar/restaurant is staffed by a guy who hides in the back room, forcing you to go find him when you want to order something. He appears to be annoyed, which is not good in a service job. Also, like the other hotels in State College owned by this ownership group, the bar/restaurant/kitchen will often close unexpectedly, well before the stated closing time. This means that travelers who are arriving and expecting to be able to get a meal or a drink have no options despite the operating hours stating such. I told the staff this and they said that if it is slow and they "aren't making money" they're not sticking around. Their suggestion is to "order delivery". Sorry, what? This is yet another State College hotel owned and managed by The Scholar Group that has real potential but self-sabotages itself with poor maintenance, bad service, corner cutting and unreliable hours. Keep your expectations low. Since this ownership group has a monopoly on all of the business class hotels in this small town, there's really no way to avoid this disappointing experience. Its very different than the hotel options and service levels in other Big Ten towns.

Comfy bed modern and different type room Beds are the reasons you get hotels and this bed was the main reason why they get a 4 and not a 3. Our room came with 2 queen size beds, it does have a small fridge inside the cabinet. Wish the TV allowed for streaming services. Pros: Parking right at hotel Friendly Staff Comfy Bed Entire building is very different than your standard hotels. Cons: Room wasn't full clean as there was a bunch of trash behind the desk Views out the windows arent the greatest. Room not very cold even with air turned down Bathtub slippery and not very accommodating to those bigger musculer folks lol. No Digital Key

Hilton needs to step up to make this hotel a 4 or 5 star hotel This hotel is a lovely old hotel in downtown State College. The staff was amazing at helping us out during our stay. Unfortunately there are a number of improvements that are needed… The elevators were iffy at best (often waiting for over 5 minutes), coffee is served in the lobby ONLY between 6 - 9 AM, the coffee in the rooms is instant coffee. When you check in the only hard copy information you are given is a map of the campus. I would have liked a handout with Internet password, how to call the front desk, where to find the vending machines (there is only one and it does not have anything to drink in it), a map of nearby restaurants and shopping, … The sitting areas in the lobby are beautiful but a few board games or puzzles would have been a nice addition.

A Perfect Stay We stayed at the Graduate State College to tour Penn State. The hotel is beautifully appointed with all things Penn State. Close to campus, restaurants, and an amazing coffee shop just across the street (Vibe) staff were warm welcoming and very helpful. Can’t wait to tour more college campuses that have a Graduate hotel near by.

Made a Penn State college visit even more memoriable Found this gem on accident looking for lodging on campus to give our granddaughter the best "college" feel experience. We had no idea how great this hotel would be. No chain hotel feel hear. Classy, preppy, clean and professional.