Southern California Advice on where to stay: Hilton Universal or 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.