Originally Posted by
Red Scorpion
As luck would have it, I am staying at the Hilton at LAX right now, so perfectly placed to answer your question.
I did exactly the same thing four weeks ago, except I got offered a Captiva for the price of an Impala.
As a 5*, I wouldn't say you're more likely to get a nice car at the main Hertz facility, but if you do get a crappy one, you've a much better chance of swapping it.
In general though I would fully endorse the approach above - at least because you're in the UK and the airport and HLE rates are the same, which is not the case for US-based travellers.