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Undergraduate by Hilton bets on college-town hospitality

Undergraduate by Hilton, Hilton, US

US – Hilton is expanding its lifestyle portfolio with Undergraduate by Hilton, a new upper-midscale hotel brand for college and university locations. Building on Graduate by Hilton, the concept will bring college-town hospitality to a broader range of destinations. The first property is expected to open in 2027, with the potential of 400–500 hotels in the long term.

Designed for students, families, alumni, sports fans, business travellers and conference attendees, Undergraduate responds to year-round demand in campus destinations, where tours, athletic weekends and gatherings often strain hotel availability.

Properties will function as off-campus social hubs, featuring lounge and library-inspired spaces and study-corner bedrooms. There will also be social spaces with grab-and-go retail while some of the hotels will feature a cocktail bar.

For brands, the launch signals the growing commercial value of culturally specific hospitality formats rooted in communities.

Read our Touring Touchpoints report to see how organisations are creating experience-led activations to embed themselves in the cultural lives of young people at college.

Strategic opportunity

How can your brand create campus-style community hubs around key life moments and turn functional spaces into social ecosystems that build loyalty, repeat visits and local cultural relevance?

Foresight Friday: Alice Crossley, principal strategic foresight analyst

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, principal strategic foresight analyst Alice Crossley dives into the product launches disrupting the beauty industry.

: After a five-year hiatus, Marc Jacobs Beauty is back to make beauty maximalist again. The relaunched collection arrives in metallic, balloon-like packaging with provocative product names. It’s a sharp departure from the clean-girl aesthetic that has dominated beauty trends for years and marks a long-overdue reset for an industry that is leaning back into complexity, friction and self-expression – as we discussed in The Great Beauty Blur.

: Elsewhere, the way we wear (and remove) beauty products is changing too. We’re in a peak patches era: eye patches, hangover patches, spot stickers, even focus patches. And that peel-on, peel-off logic is trickling into make-up. Lip stains and tubing mascara have been building momentum for a while, but US brand Tarte has pushed the concept further with a tubing eyeliner that peels away with warm water – no more raccoon eyes.

: We first tracked this direction in Momentary Make-up in 2021 where we explored how flexible, temporary applications let people switch their looks with ease. The following year, in Chameleon Cosmetics, we saw how brands were taking the idea further, drawing on the fluid, shape-shifting identities that young consumers are drawn to in the gaming and virtual worlds.

Now, as beauty and skincare continue to converge – Tarte’s liner contains hyaluronic acid, biotin and ceramide – patches and tubing products represent the next iteration of both trends, with beauty products that are ephemeral status symbols that allow consumers to effortlessly experiment and express themselves.

Quote of the week

‘I just want to encourage people to express themselves’

Marc Jacobs (source: Vogue)

Stat: Gaming industry reaches 212m people, with nearly two-thirds of Americans playing weekly

Aurora Gaming Collection by Logitech G

US – A new report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) shows that video gaming’s mainstream popularity is continuing to grow. Two-thirds (67%) of Americans aged five–90 play video games for an hour or more each week, equating to 212.3m people.

The ESA’s 2026 Essential Facts About the US Video Game Industry shows a 3% increase in the number of players since last year’s report. It also finds that the average player age has risen to 37, underlining gaming’s shift from a youth pastime to an activity with broad demographic appeal. The report adds that 63% of players believe that video games deliver better entertainment value for money – beating streaming, music, tv, films and books.

For businesses, this signals sustained demand for video games from a range of age groups. It also shows growing pressure on other media formats that are competing for attention and spend, particularly in subscription and streaming markets.

Explore our Africa’s Gaming Market Plugs In report to understand this emerging mobile-first culture, where local studios are building games rooted in heritage and identity.