Graduate Hotels has opened hotels in Cambridge and Oxford. The two hotels – the Graduate Cambridge and The Randolph Hotel by Graduate Hotels – have opened for overnight stays, with the bars and restaurants opening in coming weeks.
The 148-room Graduate Cambridge is the former Doubletree by Hilton Cambridge which has had a complete interior renovation including all rooms, common spaces, fitness club and pool. A ground floor conversion has seen the addition of a café and bar, as well as the renovation of the full-service restaurant.
The hotel’s new design “incorporates the history of the city, with colour palettes, patterns and textures in the public areas reflecting the green surroundings of fields”. Full-size punting boats have been incorporated in the bookshelves in the lobby and there is a hanging DNA installation to celebrate Rosalind Franklin, a pioneer in the development of DNA at the University of Cambridge. The hotel’s new restaurant is called Garden House with head chef Adam Wood, formerly of London’s award winning Perilla. It takes its name from the Garden House Hotel which stood on the same site.
The new Oxford opening is the historic Randolph Hotel, which has 151 rooms and a complete renovation across all of the common spaces and guest rooms. In-room art includes paintings of Oxford alumni and well-known author and playwright, Oscar Wilde, and a painting of the famous ‘Steamboat Ladies’ (1904-1097), which tells the story of a group of over 700 women who travelled by a steamboat ferry to obtain degrees at a time when their own universities withheld graduation from female students.
The Alice (named after the lead character in Oxford alumnus Lewis Carroll’s famous books) is the new all-day dining restaurant and bar, serving British dishes under Executive Chef Chris Emery who has worked at Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social, and The Clocktower in New York.
Additional outlets include The Snug, The Morse Bar and the informal lounge and dining spaces, The Drawing Room and The Lancaster Room (the latter rooms will open in autumn 2021), for afternoon tea. The famous Morse Bar has been restored and remains within the hotel. There is also a new spa featuring treatment rooms, a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, all of which will open in autumn 2021.
Graduate Hotels has 30 US locations and is owned by (AJ) Capital Partners. AJ Capital also owns and operates Marine & Lawn, a collection of hotels in golfing locations, and has recently rebranded the Rusacks Hotel in St Andrews, Scotland and Marine North Berwick in North Berwick, Scotland, which will be followed by Marine Troon in Troon, Scotland.
