I too would recommend staying in Jersey City and taking the PATH into Manhattan. Buses are a major pain here because of the traffic and I am not aware of any hotels that have reasonable shuttles to the city. Along the PATH trains, there are three cities, Newark, Hoboken and Jersey City. While Newark has a reasonable Hilton hotel (always available on Priceline), the city is not very nice and is the farthest of the three from Manhattan. Hoboken does not have many hotels although the city has become quite interesting over the past few years. Jersey City has the best selection of hotels and has also been developed significantly over the years. I would recommend either Courtyard or Doubletree for reasonably priced hotels within walking distance of the PATH ($2.00 each way fare to Manhattan). All the hotels in Jersey City along the shore have been built within the past 10 years (most within the past 5 years) so they are fairly new too. The area is also very safe for travel with children.