Graduate Cincinnati

Like all the other Graduate hotels, the Graduate Cincinnati is roughly one part tried-and-true boutique-hotel formula and one part local color. Here, on the campus itself, the hotel takes its inspiration not just from the University of Cincinnati but from the whole city’s history, paying tribute to its setting with visual references to Bearcats athletics and Reds baseball, the products of the old Kenner toy factory, and Cincinnati natives Bootsy Collins and Roy Rogers.

It’s remarkably colorful, even by Graduate standards, a welcome contrast to the drab décor of the typical college-campus lodging. And while the rooms may not be enormous, they’re more than comfortable enough, they’re full of visual interest, and they’re pet-friendly, for a small fee.

Poindexter, the hotel’s ground-floor café, is a fixture across all Graduate hotels, serving breakfast and coffee in an ironically nerdy-hip setting. Specific to Cincinnati, though, is Fiona’s, named for the local zoo’s beloved hippopotamus; it’s an all-day bar and restaurant decked out in Mondrian-style geometric shapes and primary colors, serving as everything from dinner venue to cocktail bar to lively daytime co-working space.