The ever expanding The Bend development in East Moline has a big new amenity – the second My Place Hotel in the Quad Cities.
The 64-room, three-story, extended-stay held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 9 to celebrate their grand opening, including an open house.
Located at 940 Mississippi Parkway in East Moline, connected to the three-year-old Bend XPO Center, this is the second My Place Hotel to open in the Quad Cities, after the 2018 opening of a My Place at 4653 Progress Drive, Davenport, off Utica Ridge Road.
“As I look at our hotel here and the market we’re in, I see a lot of kinships,” My Place president/CEO Ryan Rivett said Thursday. “You have a lot of history here, a lot of stories that go back in your community, and you have a lot going on today that’s pushing economic development, pushing economic growth, You have a great group of people in this community we’ve been able to interact with.
“I’m excited about East Moline; I’m excited about this location,” he said. “It’s so well situated inside of an area — imagine what this is going to look like five years from now, seven years from now.”
“It’s been a pleasure interacting with Aaron and his group throughout the project,” Rivett said of The Bend property co-owner Aaron Tennant. “I applaud the city of East Moline for being engaged and for its residents being engaged.”
Launched in 2012, My Place has about 115 hotels in 28 states and East Moline is its sixth in Illinois and Iowa. They also have properties in North Aurora, Ill., two in the Des Moines area and one in Council Bluffs.
“My Place is known as an extended-stay hotel,” Rivett said. “What you’ll find in a My Place is typically better than 50% of people stay one to four nights, and the other 50% stay longer. It’s the contractors, the transportation people, trainers, and professionals of all different natures that enjoy the amenities inside the room, the simplicity of the hotel itself, and the fact that the hotel size and form allows them to get to know the staff, the family atmosphere and the friendly environment they walk into.”
The East Moline hotel has just seven employees, but plans to grow.
All of their rooms provide a My Kitchen, which includes a full-sized refrigerator with ice maker, a two-burner cooktop, coffee maker, desk, and a microwave. Also available for their guests, are onsite laundry facilities. They encourage their guests to bring their four-legged friends, as they are pet friendly.
In East Moline, the hotel is connected to the Bend XPO Center and within walking distance to the Bend Event Center, Rust Belt, and the Mississippi River. They will work with all local companies to provide discounted rates with ease of booking access by booking through a private direct booking link.
Tennant attended the Davenport My Place ribbon-cutting and recalled it was a really great franchise.
“I got to know the team at My Place and fast forward a few years, and we finally got one in East Moline,” he said Thursday. “It’s been a long journey.”
“We’re excited to be here; we’re excited to continue developing down here at The Bend,” Tennant said. They wanted to have a complement for the Bend XPO, which opened in April 2020, at the height of COVID.
“People were asking for a hotel that was connected to the property,” he said. “The other properties in the community — The Waterfront (in Bettendorf) is connected to The Isle; the RiverCenter is connected to the Doubletree (former Radisson). So we did it. We wanted to do something down here for a long time.”
The nine-story Hyatt hotel at The Bend has 99 rooms (as well as the River Room bar on the top floor) and opened in December 2018.
“We’re in close proximity to John Deere Harvester, when they have contractors in,” Tennant said. “With the grants that East Moline has received, there will be more development downtown. That’s gonna bring construction workers. It’s gonna make things happen. That is where we’re at and we think the weekday stay, and this market has need for rooms for the weekends, with all the events at the Bettplex, sporting events.”
It’s also perfect for wedding parties, he added.
Bend XPO general manager DeAnna Freeman-Foster (her father is East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman) said the center hosts over 100 events a year.
“We work very closely with Visit Quad Cities, so when they’re bidding on opportunities that haven’t been in the areas, this will help them be competitive because some of these larger corporations or organizations want a conference space with a hotel that’s connected, so their employees don’t have to drive,” she said. “Everything’s right there.”
“It helps be a little more competitive,” Freeman-Foster said. My Place gives visitors and meetings another option, compared to the neighboring Hyatt, she said.
“They are two totally different properties. Who might stay there and somebody who stays here may be totally different and vice versa,” Freeman-Foster (who’s worked 17 years in the hotel industry) said.
For more information on My Place, click HERE.
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