Graduate East Lansing

If you know the Graduate hotels, you won’t be surprised to find the lobby of the Graduate East Lansing decked out in Spartans emerald green, with a portrait of Michigan State alum Magic Johnson — made from shoelaces — hanging above the reception desk. The hotel, set just across Grand River Road from the Michigan State University campus, has something of a captive audience, and it knows it well; not a single opportunity to refer to the university’s history is missed, right down to the initials woven into the patterned carpets and the basketball-themed wallpaper hanging in the bathrooms.

In the rooms, the décor ventures out to rural Michigan, with plaid blankets and artwork depicting nature scenes; the walls are papered in regulation Pantone 567 green, and the headboards are what you might call a Spartan tartan. Meanwhile, the closer you get to the rooftop Graduate Rock Bar — named for its centerpiece, a replica of The Rock, a campus monument — the more you’re surrounded by artifacts from MSU’s sporting history, especially its championship basketball squads. And Poindexter, on the ground floor, is something all Graduate hotels have in common: a café with a self-consciously bookish vibe, perfect for co-working or even some actual studying.