Advice on Hotels: Hilton Universal vs Ayres Manhattan Beach?

[brocklesnar69]

My buddy and I will be visiting LA toward the end of the year (2013) for a convention. Below are the two hotels we are thinking about staying at.


Hilton Universal: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/california/hilton-los-angeles-universal-city-BURUCHF/index.html

OR


Aryes Manhattan Beach: http://www.ayreshotels.com/los-ange...&utm_campaign=Brand+Manhattan+Beach+Hawthorne

Hilton Universal is quite a bit closer to where our convention will be (Pasadena) but they don't offer free parking ($25 per day - ouch!), nor free breakfast, nor free wifi.

For a similar price (about $10 cheaper per night) the alternative would be the Aryes at Manhattan Beach in Hawthorn. They offer free parking, free breakfast, and free wifi. However, they are quite a bit farther from everywhere we want to go (roughly a half an hour or so in each direction from the hotel to our POIs and back).


So each hotel has a trade off. Most of our time will be spent at this convention in Pasadena, but we were also looking at going to Universal Studios for a day, and maybe visiting Downtown Disney, the Staples Center and LA Coliseum, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills.

So overall, if this were your choice to make based on my criteria, would you rather stay at the closer hotel (Hilton Universal) for a few dollars more per night with no freebies, or would you rather stay at the slightly cheaper hotel (Ayres Manhattan Beach) which offers a few freebies, but is quite a bit father away from everything (thus more gas)?

We will be there for 4 nights.

 

[endy]

While I'm not sure on locations I'd pick Ayres. Mainly because I don't like spending money I don't have to.
We've stayed at Ayres Orange and the one by Angel Stadium. I thought both were great. The breakfast is really good with different hot choices daily.
I didn't realize there was an Ayres close to Universal so I'm off to check it out for our Aug trip.

 

[sheetz]

Stay closer to where you plan on going unless you don't mind wasting hours stuck in traffic.

 

[Epek]

Staying in Manhattan Beach to spend most of your time in Pasadena is insane! You'd be driving 3-4 hrs a day! It can take a half hour to go 5 miles in rush hour. Though the mileage out here may seem small, traffic makes a huge impact. I live about 5 mins from Universal. It would take me about 30 min to get to Pasadena in the morning. If I wanted to get to Manhattan Beach, I would give myself 1.5 hrs. I wish I could help you with hotels, but being a local, I've never really had to research them. For what you want to do, staying either in Pasadena, Glendale, by Universal or Hollywood (pick the higher end there as even moderate seem a little seedy) makes the most sense.