You really have me thinking and now I'm in the same situation. Decisions decisions. I love HOJO's but I'm worried about Dad thinking he may want to rest during the day and how convenient to be right across the street.
The walk back to Desert Inn and Suites is *MUCH* shorter than to HoJo, as much as people like to proclaim HoJo is "not that much farther". Honestly, I don't think you can get much closer, except for the Grand Californian. As for the room rates, if you have
AAA, Desert Inn has a AAA discount (which is close to the Ent Rate at HoJo's). Also, if your Dad has issues with joint problems and walking is difficult for him, or if he gets tired easily, perhaps you should think about renting an off-site
ECV scooter. We had wonderful service with
Alan's Wheelchair & Medical. And they're really great with return customers (for future trips

). They keep your name on file forever pretty much and for loyal customers, they offer a discount, but even without the discount, their prices are still really good (at least the last time we were there). They will deliver the scooter to your hotel, and Desert Inn will let you keep it in the lobby to charge over night. Then he can just hop on his scooter, go across the crosswalk and scoot all over DL and DCA without the hassle of renting from DL/DCA and having to switch every time you switch park.
Here's a Map outlining the distance between HoJo and the pedestrian entrance to DL/DCA and the distance between Desert Inn and the pedestrian entrance. (sorry if the map is a bit big, I tried to make it smaller....)