We had been in California for almost 10 days when we checked into the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City hotel, and this was basically our home base for the grand finale of our entire trip.
We had intentionally split our Universal Studios Hollywood visit into two separate days: one toward the beginning of our trip, and one on our very last day in California.
And there was a reason for that.
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift was the roller coaster we had basically built this entire trip around. We had hoped it would be open by the time we arrived in August – but it wasn’t. So heading into our final Universal day, we knew there was a chance we could leave California without ever getting to ride it.
Spoiler alert: we did. Multiple times. And yes, there were tears.
But before any of that could happen, we needed somewhere to stay that put us as close to Universal as possible.
This is a full, in-depth review of the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City hotel located at 555 Universal Hollywood Drive in Universal City, California (91608). We stayed there for one night in August 2026 and this was our experience.
OVERVIEW
You might think that staying at a hotel for just 12 hours (about 8 of which was spent sleeping) would be too little to craft an entire review, but here we are. I am creating this video simply because there are details about this hotel that are not included on the hotel’s website that I wish we would have had clarification on before we booked our stay, simply so we could have been more prepared and had more realistic expectations.
Overall, our initial first impression of this 495-room hotel was that it is desperately trying to break into the “luxury” category of hotel, but let’s be honest: the only reason you’re staying here is if you are attending an event (like a wedding or conference) or if you’re visiting Universal Studios. Not to say that major theme park hotels can’t be “luxury” (we’ve definitely stayed at some really nice theme park resort hotels), but this one just felt like it was trying a bit too hard.
The staff (including the front desk and breakfast staff) all seemed to act a bit superior – almost like they were looking down on the families that were staying at this hotel and using it as a base to their Universal visit, but giving preference (and better attitudes) toward the couples checking in who were dressed up and obviously there to attend the wedding that was taking place in the gardens outside.
You have to admit, it was a strange conglomeration of guests checking in as we arrived: families in cargo shorts and t-shirts, dragging suitcases and kids, mixed in with couples dressed up in black-tie elegance. And truly, there really is no in-between. Because of the location of this hotel, that’s pretty much the two categories of people who are staying here, which leaves the hotel feeling like it doesn’t really know who its target audience is: families on vacation or black-tie events.
Speaking of location: the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal CIty hotel sits right next to Universal Studios Hollywood. You literally have to turn onto Universal property in order to access this hotel. On a map, the properties are incredibly close, but because of the roads, hills and walking path, that doesn’t mean you’re literally walking a straight 1/10th of a mile to the front gate. I’ll show you exactly what that walk looks like when I talk about it more in depth in a minute.
Other locations and their distances to note: Downtown Los Angeles is less than 10 miles away, Santa Monica Beach is about 18 miles away, Knott’s Berry Farm is about 31 miles away, Disneyland is about 35 miles away, and Legoland is about 99 miles away.
Los Angeles Airport is 27 miles away (which would take about an hour to drive, depending on traffic), and John Wayne Airport is 52 miles away (which would take about 90 minutes to drive, again, depending on traffic).
Unfortunately, the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City does not offer any type of shuttle to or from either airport.
THE ROOM
Derrick is in charge of finding and booking our hotel stays when we travel (a job he takes very seriously and honestly gets a little obsessed over, so I just leave him to it).
He booked us a stay on the Executive Floor – we had 1 King Bed with a Sofabed in a corner room with a Universal View.
He booked us the Executive Floor mostly for the view, which he’d read in the reviews was incredible (the pictures online definitely do NOT do it justice!) but it also came with complimentary breakfast in what he thought was an Executive Lounge. I’ll talk about the breakfast deal in a few minutes (because, it did not end up being what we thought and overall it was VERY confusing).
But back to the view – since we had a corner room, we truly had a panoramic view of Universal Studios and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE. We’ve stayed in hotel rooms with great views before, but this one definitely takes the cake as the absolute BEST. We literally could have stayed at the windows and watched the park operate forever.
Because we were literally “a corner room”, the room did have a slightly odd shape – very reminiscent to the shape of the rooms at the Buena Vista Palace in Orlando, Florida. It wasn’t a bad thing – just not your standard rectangular shaped room.
Unfortunately, we found the beds to be on the uncomfortable side. The pillows were the type that appear super fluffy, but as soon as you lay on them, the air goes out of them and suddenly, they’re flat as a pancake. Overall, we woke up the next morning thankful that we were only staying one night in this hotel.
The bathroom was very spacious – but was just one large open room. The sink area was massive and in the corner across from the toilet was another counter area with a mirror. This definitely would have been nicer if it was separated by a door from the rest of the bathroom. There was only one double-sided hook to hang towels on (seriously, what do hotels have against hooks in their bathrooms?). Speaking of towels, even though we clearly were in a room that slept 4, they still only stocked our room with 3 towels, so we had to call down to the front desk and request more, plus request extra pillows for the sleeper sofa, as the kit of bedding for the sofabed only came with one pillow).
We found a good amount of outlets around our room, plus a few regular USB outlets (no USB-C outlets though). Since we are content creators, this means a lot to us, because leading into any full day in a theme park, we have a lot of gear to charge.
Our room had a mini fridge (but no microwave), along with a small workspace, and a large closet with an iron, ironing board, small safe, and robes. Next to the closet was a set of shelves that had a small coffee maker, bottles of water (since we’re Hilton Diamond Members, the regular bottles of water were for us), but there was also “fancy” water and a few snacks that were obviously an upcharge. (We strictly warned our children that these were not for us and not to touch them! $12 for a bag of chips is QUITE steep!)
Since we’re Hilton Honors Diamond members, Wi-Fi was included with our stay, and we had no issues with the connection.
My favorite little element of the room though was that as soon as you entered, there was a small table and mirror – which just felt so homey. It was the perfect place to drop your keys and take a deep breath to relax, before walking in and seeing the rest of the room around the corner.
Overall, the room was clean, felt large, had plenty of space for us to drop our suitcases, but our favorite element was definitely the panoramic views of Universal Studios.
THE RESORT
Outside of the room, the hotel itself was very nice. As I said at the top, it does lean more toward that luxury side (making us feel a bit underdressed as we walked around in our shorts and flipflops).
Off the main lobby area is a VERY large gift shop with tons of snacks and souvenirs (both Universal merchandise and general California souvenirs). This is probably the largest gift shop we’ve ever seen in a Hilton hotel – they had a huge variety of frequently forgotten items, snacks and drinks, t-shirts, hoodies, the list goes on and on.
There was a small laundry room with 2 washers and 2 dryers (though one was marked as “out of order”), there was a tub to rinse things in, as well as a counter to fold your laundry at. A load of laundry started at $6.50 to wash and $3.50 to dry and there was a machine to buy laundry soap at the entrance of the room if you needed it.
The hotel has a VERY large fitness area with two rooms – one stocked with treadmills and bikes, the other with weights and a bench.
On the way down to the pool, there was a large vending machine in the hall with medicines and more frequently forgotten items (like toothpaste & sunlotion), but the machine also had Legos in it to tempt your little ones as they walked by.
The pool area was VERY nice – honestly: better than I was expecting! The pool is advertised as heated – and it actually was warm! (So many times, we’ve stayed in hotels that advertise “heated pools” and it’s just not, so this was very pleasant to discover!) Below the pool, there is also an average size hot tub, which again, many hotels are getting rid of – so this was another nice element.
The pool itself is shaped like a giant X with it being shallower on the edges and deeper out in the middle. There didn’t seem to be a TON of seating around the pool, but enough. There were cabanas to rent along the edge of the area and towels stocked to use at the pool.
There was a small food truck style “restaurant” along the one side of the pool – but unfortunately, by the time we arrived and got down there, it was already closed for the evening. This seems like a missed opportunity by the hotel though because there were quite a few people down at the pool (especially as the sun set and more and more people arrived – the string lights really gave a great ambiance to the space, so even if you weren’t swimming, it was a nice place to relax.)
Above the pool, there was an additional patio area with oversized lawn games (like chess), a ping pong table, and foosball table.
Like I said: the pool area really surprised me. And the more I walked around and explored the space, the more I found to enjoy.
UNIVERSAL PERKS
It’s fairly obvious why MOST of the guests are choosing this particular hotel over others in the area: and that’s it’s proximity to Universal Studios Hollywood. In order to visit this hotel, you have to turn onto Universal property and begin driving up the hill, like you’re going to Universal Studios.
The Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City does provide a complimentary shuttle to Universal Studios or you can simply walk to the park.
The shuttle runs every 15-20 minutes, picking guests up at the hotel entrance on a first-come, first serve basis. The shuttle does not run on a strict schedule – it just drives back and forth, so if you want to wait and you happen to miss the shuttle, you could end up waiting 20+ minutes. The hours that the shuttle runs is posted in the lobby and mimics the hours of the park.
If you choose to simply walk to the park, it is a mostly uphill walk to get to the park (and thus a mostly downhill walk to get back). We ended up walking and I timed it out, we made it from the hotel to the park in just 8 minutes (but we definitely walk at a pretty good pace, set by Derrick’s 6’3” long legs – I’d assume the average walker would make it in 10-15 minutes). The walk is VERY clearly marked – there are signs every 10-20 feet that say: “Universal, this way!”, which is very helpful.
Choosing to walk from the hotel to the park definitely has its perks! The walking path spits you out right at the front gate of Universal Studios, so you don’t have to walk through City Walk like when you park your car (which in itself is a long walk). As such, hotel guests have their own separate security screening that they have to pass through. (When you drive to the park, you go through security before even entering City Walk.)
Unlike staying at a Universal Hotel in Orlando, Florida (where if you stay on property, you not only have access to the shuttle service to and from the parks, but you also get early access to the parks simply for being a resort guest), literally the proximity and the ability to simply walk or ride the shuttle is the ONLY Universal Studios perk offered to guests staying at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. Early entry at Universal Studios Hollywood is a separate paid ticket, available to anyone visiting the park every day.
And that’s something I found very fascinating – we’re from the East Coast and thus more frequently visit the theme parks in Orlando, Florida. Orlando’s major parks all have resorts ON their own property and staying there comes with a long list of resort-perks.
Universal Studios Hollywood does not have a single resort that they call their own on their own property. They have “partner hotels”, and the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City hotel is the closest, but since it is run by a third party, the perks are severely limited. We knew this in advance, but it still kind of surprised me (I found myself thinking: there has to be more perks that we’ll be told about once we arrive, right? Nope.)
THE FOOD
The Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City hotel has 4 dining locations.
I’ve already touched on the poolside restaurant – the website lists it as a “poolside grill and bar.” It was closed by the time we got down there, but the menu listed common poolside foods like pizza, burgers, wings, and salads. There was also smoothies, Dip-n-Dots, Boba drinks, and cocktails advertised.
ANSO Coffee is down the hall from the main lobby – they were only open in the morning during our visit, but they advertised Starbucks coffee, as well as traditional coffeeshop pastries and fare.
The Luckman Bar is an open restaurant/bar off of the main lobby. From the website: it’s “Built around gin, whiskey, a full bar, and approachable bites.” As we walked through, I was honestly confused whether they served regular food here or if it was just a bar? It wasn’t super clear when you simply walked by.
But, the main food I want to talk about are the breakfast options – because, let’s just say: it’s weird. Definitely the most confusing and strange setup we have ever seen at a hotel. Literally the only reason we even had a heads up on how things were situated was because I was exploring the hotel the night we arrived (while Derrick took the kids down to the pool), and upon looking at the menu, I got a taste for what we would have in store the next morning.
So, let me explain to you how it works so you’re more prepared heading in than we were.
There are two main options in the main breakfast area: a Continental Breakfast option and a Breakfast Buffet option.
The Continental Breakfast is on the sides & includes fresh fruit, cereal, bagels, toast, and pastries, while the Breakfast Buffet is in the middle & includes everything from the Continental Breakfast PLUS the hot items, plus the fresh made-to-order eggs, pancakes, and waffles.
For the most part, the Continental Breakfast is cold, while the Breakfast Buffet is hot.
Additionally, you can also order options directly off a menu and skip the buffet altogether.
Since we had booked a room on the Executive Floor, our room came with 4 “adult” Continental Breakfasts as part of the stay. I specify “adult” because when we arrived at breakfast, we were told that our kids were not included in this and we had to pay extra for them. Being that they are kids, they were eligible for the kids price, but they only gave us the option of the Breakfast Buffet, they were not eligible to simply get the Continental Breakfast. Our waitress simply said: “Kids get the Breakfast Buffet, so they can have anything.”
This was SO confusing – so our kids got waffles and anything off the hot bar, while Derrick and I could only eat off the cold side bars (unless we paid to upgrade our breakfast).
The whole process of the waitress explaining the options to us was SO confusing, difficult to understand, and strange. We wondered if we had registered our kids as “adults” to our room, if they could have eaten for free from the Continental Breakfast options too?
And to be honest: the whole thing threw us off because to us, booking a room with “complimentary continental breakfast” means – you have access to the breakfast buffet. That is NOT the case with this hotel – and this is a detail that is not clearly explained on the website, was not clear when we made our reservation, and was so confusing to be presented with when we went down to breakfast. It definitely set a weird tone to our day.
EXTRAS OF NOTE
One nice surprise: unlike a lot of resort-style hotels (especially ones that sit right next to theme parks), the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City does not charge a traditional daily resort fee. Of course, you’ll still see the usual taxes and local fees added to your stay (including some city & state tourism taxes that are unique to Hollywood), but there’s no additional, specific resort fee on top of the room rate.
Speaking of extra fees: the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City offers 2 different parking options: valet parking and self parking.
Standard check-in time is at 4pm and checkout is at 11am. But here’s the really important part: if you’re visiting Universal on checkout day – you don’t have to move your car by 11am.
As soon as you pull up to the entrance to the hotel, you’ll be greeted by the valet/bellhop staff. To be honest, this part of any hotel stay is a bit stressful for us: we almost always choose the self-park option, but when a bellhop begins to unload your trunk before you’ve even figured out where to go for self-parking, things can get a bit tricky (stressful).
Thankfully – that was not the case when we arrived at the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City – the team that greeted us were friendly & kind and gave us clear instructions on how to get to self-parking, how to access the lobby from there, and how to unload ourselves (in a completely non-pushy, car-salesmen-y way at all.) If you do choose the valet parking option, it’s $20 an hour or $63 a day.
Self parking is located in the garage under the hotel and is $53 a day. We were able to leave our car at the hotel garage during our day at Universal, even though we’d already checked out (saving us the additional $40 Universal parking fee.)
During our stay, the front desk explained that we had until 6pm to leave the parking garage on the day we checked out or we’d be charged a $15 an hour fee after that. On that particular day, Universal Studios closed at 6pm, but we really wanted to squeeze every ounce out of our day there, as it was the last day of our vacation, so we ended up hanging out in Hogsmeade until about 6:30pm so the kids could have fun playing with their wands.
Ultimately, we were back at the parking garage around 6:45pm, so we expected to have to pay $15 to leave the garage, but our room key (which they told us to keep and scan as we left) would not scan to let us leave the garage at all. We had to call up to the front desk and they simply lifted the gate so we could leave. Upon looking at our receipt after we left, there was an $11 charge, so we assumed this must be the prorated additional parking fee, but it wasn’t labeled that way, so honestly, we aren’t entirely sure if they ended up charging us or not.
The last thing I wanted to mention is that, like I said at the very beginning, you’re pretty much only staying at this hotel for one of two reasons: as a jumping point to visit Universal Studios or because you’re attending a wedding or event in the hotel. There are 14 different event spaces in the hotel, with over 30,000 square feet of event space. They advertise heavily for weddings, conferences, and business events.
We were there on a Sunday evening and as we were parking in the garage, we noticed a lot of people walking in in black-tie attire. Sure enough, from our room on the 20th floor, we could look down and see a wedding ceremony taking place in the gardens, and there were signs down the hallway from the main lobby saying that the event space was reserved for a wedding reception.
CONCLUSION
Is the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City hotel worth the price?
I think that depends almost entirely on how much you value convenience. You will be paying a premium to stay this close to Universal Studios Hollywood, but you’re also getting a hotel that’s legitimately within walking distance of the front gate. We didn’t have to get in our car, sit in traffic, pay another $40 to park at Universal, walk through the parking garages and CityWalk, and then do it all again at the end of the day.
For us, especially with kids, that convenience has real value.
So, regardless of it’s weird breakfast policies and the bed not being quite our forte, the hotel’s proximity to the park and it’s walkability make it an amazing choice.
Obviously if you aren’t going to Universal, I’m truly not sure why you’d stay here (outside of a wedding or business conference). This hotel clearly caters to Universal guests, even if it’s employees seem to think they’re working for some ultra luxury hotel.
The fact that you can leave your car in the garage is a great perk (as regular Universal parking is $40 a day) and the 10-15 minute walk is easy – not easy enough to think that you could leave the park, run back to your hotel if you forgot something, and return easily (this isn’t Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point or even the Legoland Hotels), but the dedicated hotel security screening and skipping the walk through City Walk is really nice.
Waking up and watching the sun rise over Hogwarts and the rest of the Universal Studios property is epic, and a sight you truly can’t get anywhere else. For that reason alone, I’d highly suggest upgrading your stay to be in a Universal Studios facing room – and if you can, the panoramic views of a corner executive room simply can’t be beat!
