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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Bettendorf, Iowa/Quad Cities -- Holiday Inn

Status perks
At check-in, I got to roll five dice for a chance to win extra points. No luck there—I rolled two pair, and needed to roll at least three of a kind to receive anything. There was a PC gathering one night with free beer, wine, pop, and snacks. The second night of my stay was St Patrick's Day, and I received a coupon for buy one drink, get one free, and a free corned beef dinner at the hotel restaurant Bennigan's. I had booked an executive room, and that is the room type I received.

Room
The room was a basic room with microwave and fridge. It had been repainted—apparently with many things in the room at the time, as there were paint splashes on the door, the wall HVAC unit, the clock radio, etc. It looked extremely tacky. The carpet did not look like it had been vacuumed with the nozzle since the painting because there were paint chips in all the corners and along the walls (and, it didn’t look or smell like the paint job was that fresh). The Internet connection was decent; however, the desk chair was old and could not be raised to a height comfortable for working at the desk. The bed was extremely hard. There was a thin pad liner on the mattress, which made it tolerable at best.

Fitness Center
There were two treadmills, which worked fine, as did the TV. Although there were no weights, I have no complaints about the fitness center.

Business Center
You need a special key from the front desk to access this room. I suppose that is to keep kids out or something. My document would not print, and I received no help from the front desk. The printer registered a "paper jam," which I cleared, and it still would not print. When I told the front desk, I was told to press a lever on the machine. That did not work, and then my document would not delete from the print queue either. I finally restarted the printer and computer. My document was no longer in the queue after this, so I assume it had been deleted. I wasted about 15 minutes of my time in the business center.

Staff/service
Most of the hotel employees I spoke with were extremely friendly and helpful (with the exception of the early morning employee when my document would not print); however, the service in Bennigan's needed improvement. I observed a PC guest leave the bar without his free beverage and meal because he was unhappy with the service.

Overall
When I travel for business, I like a good night’s sleep, a comfortable working desk, and a business center. Since this hotel did not meet any of these needs, I would not stay at this property again. On the other hand, if my husband had been with me, he would have liked this hotel—for the free beer and the pool area, which was a wide-open area in the center of the hotel.

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