July 2021, three days & one night
Arrival and check-in at Holiday Inn Express
The front desk agent (manager possibly) assigned my room during check-in. He did not really talk to me as he did this; he was apparently training a new employee, and was talking to her instead. I requested a top floor guestroom when it did not sound like that was what he was assigning me. The platinum 500 bonus points posted to my account the same day.
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| Entrance in guestroom 425 Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities Connecting room door on left |
King guestroom 425 at Holiday Inn Express
This guestroom was much smaller than the one I had just stayed in in Galesburg, and it was also much more soundproof. It was comfortable and perfect for sleeping. When I first entered the guestroom and observed the connecting room door, I was somewhat worried after the two noisy nights I had tried to work and sleep through before this stay. Fortunately, everything in this guestrom is soundproofed very well.
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| Refreshment area in room 425 Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities |
The refreshment center outside the bathroom contained a K-cup machine with supplies, an ice bucket, microwave, and small fridge.
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| Bathroom at arrival in guestroom 425 Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities |
The bathroom was a decent size with a walk-in shower (not visible behind the door). It appeared housekeeping had left before finishing this room, as it looked like the toilet had been used and not flushed. The reason the bed covers are down in the next photos is because after seeing this in the bathroom, I checked the bedding before I took any more photos. If I had been given an uncleaned room, I was going to return to the front desk (unfortunately, that has happened to me more than once).
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| Guestroom 425 at Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities |
The guestroom contained a soft chair with footstool, king size bed, nightstands, suitcase bench, flatscreen TV, and desk with chair. A small closet with a couple of hangers was located next to the suitcase bench.
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| Guestroom 425 at Holiday Inn Express Moline - Quad Cities |
There was something wrong with the internet connection at this hotel. It kicked me offline about every 30 minutes. The first time this happened, I had been working online, and had to redo all the work I had entered since my last save. After this, I saved my work every few minutes; however, information was still getting lost. When I called the front desk about this, the agent was not very nice. She just kept saying that her connection was working fine. Well obviously, the administration portion of the hotel connects differently than the guest connections. After a bit of persistence from me, I got the telephone number from her to call the internet provider. When I dialed the number she had given me, the call would not go through. Later, I found out the number was incorrect by one digit. About 2 hours after I had checked in, I received a welcome text from the front desk. At that time, I replied saying that the internet was down again. After the representative texted the ISP telephone number back to me, I saw that the number was different, so I tried to call them again. When I got someone on the phone, he said he was going to direct connect my laptop, so I would not have the problem again. After this, my connection stayed longer; however, I was still disconnected after 45 minutes, or so. By this time, I was ready for bed, so I just let it go.
Food & beverage
I had an early flight, so I did not have breakfast at the hotel. The employee was setting this up when I came down for my shuttle ride to the airport in the morning. She was also the same employee who drove the shuttle.
Misc. and overall
This hotel is located directly in front of the airport within walking distance. I was able to return my rental car after checking in, and walk back to the hotel. I chose the shuttle in the morning because it was dark out, and I had luggage with me.
If you need a rental car at Quad Cities International Airport, be aware that the counters close at 4:00 PM. My flight arrived at 4:30 PM, so I made my reservation with Avis for 4:00 PM, and then tried to reach someone at the airport to ask how this works. When I finally reached the airport (you have to keep calling, and hang up after it rings 6 times, because the call gets transferred to central reservations after that), the person I spoke with said that if I have an Avis Preferred membership, and had entered my flight info, someone would stay there to wait for me. This was a couple of weeks before my arrival, so I decided to call again in the morning after I got to the airport to confirm everything. The person I spoke with said pretty much the same thing. When I arrived, the Avis center was closed, and no one was answering their phone when I called! I observed two employees and three customers at the Hertz counter after hours. I do prefer Hertz; however, the rate was almost $100 more than Avis. After looking around for a bit, I noticed something hanging behind the Avis counter where rental agreements are usually kept when prepared ahead of time. I walked back behind the counter, and it was my agreement and keys. The people watching me from the seat near the rental car counter probably wondered what I was doing, as I took the envelope, and then left the airport.
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| Fish and Chips at Montana Jacks in Moline, IL |
There is only one restaurant (other than McDonalds) about a half mile down the road from Holiday Inn Express called Montana Jacks. The food was very good, although the initial greeting and assistance I received left a lot to be desired. I stood at the entrance for almost 10 minutes when I arrived. I stood next to the sign stating to please wait to be seated. I observed only one employee walk back and forth during this time who did not make eye contact with me. She was close enough to acknowledge me more than once. She was assisting patrons at a couple of tables that were ending their meals. I arrived around 2:00 PM, so lunch was pretty much done, and dinner had not started yet. I was the only new customer from the time I arrived until I departed after my meal.
Another woman walked up from the dining room before the employee came over to where I was standing. When the employee finally came over, she learned I wanted a table to get something to eat, and she asked the other woman what she needed. She then helped her first. After this, the telephone rang. She answered the telephone, and then proceeded to help the caller with a reservation, which took another 5 minutes--unbelievable. If there had been another dining choice, I certainly would have left. She could have placed that call on hold for the 30 seconds it took her to finally get me a menu and show me where to sit. Later, after she took my order, she apologized for the wait.
Overall, I had a comfortable stay at this hotel. I thought the aloof/somewhat rude attitude of workers in this area was a sharp contrast to the friendly employees I had encountered in Galesburg.
Let me know if you have any questions!
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