Wrapping up a 2-night paid stay with spouse and 14-year old this morning.

First stay in an Element. Per sign posted in the elevator, this property is the first Element opened within a repurposed historical building (versus new build) - in this case, former warehouse from early 1900s. As such, main building (including lobby and where our room is located - 611) have warehouse aesthetic: exposed brick and concrete and industrial chic decor. Hotel is proximal to riverside TaxSlayer Center and John Deere Commons, though in fact you can't really *see* water from the property - it's sandwiched between the bus transit center and older, not-as-well-cared-for buildings. Also very close to Rock Island Arsenal, which explains why we've seen many other guests in fatigues - imagine that a fair amount of hotel's business is military and contractors. Short 10-minute walk to 4 block stretch of restaurants and bars in old Moline downtown area, including Legomarcino's Confectionary. Closest parking is "gated" municipal lot directly across street from hotel. I guess at some point this was paid, but gates have always been up and screen display on the incoming gate was smashed... so upshot is free parking (for now).

Reserved 1 Bedroom Executive Suite with 1 K + sofa bed. Room is enormous - overall greater than 700 sq ft. Entry is into living room w/ sofa-bed, single easy chair, work table/"desk" and bar-height banquette with raised back and 2 stool seating; guess latter intended for dining? (no outlets or USB ports embedded within backing on this, so don't think its intended as workstation). Connected by hallway to 1 K bedroom. Hallway has full kitchen, and doored access to both bathroom and ? bonus room (nothing inside except circuit breaker box). Bathroom is shower-only. Received top floor - 611. Guessing based on configuration that there may be one of these room configurations on each floor (or at least higher floors). Room is functional, but do feel somewhat empty with minimal furnishings to fill up space. (But I suppose that's part of the industrial chic vibe... and maybe part of the Element idea of being simple and austere?).

Aside from facilities, biggest impression is that hotel seems under-resourced. Checked in day ahead via app, and did not receive any confirmation of room number or digital key. Checked in at front desk around 6 pm; agent not rude per se, but clearly seemed rushed and indifferent - got 3 word explanation of evening social and breakfast, but no other description of benefits or property. Upon arriving to room, saw only 2 sets of towels, so used app chat function to message requesting additional set (offering that I would come down to pick up). No response. We went out for dinner and returned 90 minutes later with intent of asking at desk. No agent to be found (and door to office area wide open and seemed relatively unsecured). I poked my head into pool and gym areas, but no towels there either. Agent finally back around 10 minutes later - at that time she gleefully got another set of towels from basement and pro-actively got "bed in bag" furnishings for sofa bed since she assumed we didn't have those in room either (which we didn't). Clearly she was only employee in house. They are serving some semblance of fresh breakfast: yesterday's options included egg scramble with spinach tomato and onion, eggs to order, or homemade ham-egg-english muffin sandwiches. Remainder of options pre-packaged and individually wrapped. Breakfast attendant cheerful. Also have evening reception from 5 to 6:30 pm with gratis beer, wine, and finger foods. We arrived too late on first day to assess (though seemed well-attended - even crowded). Stopped by yesterday at 5:20, and already at that point both beer options and one of the wine taps had run dry. Employee (? - no name tag or other differentiation to suggest this, other than she was walking back into the supply area) struggled to figure out how to open the locked cooler door to replace the keg, to point that a couple of the guests were trying to help. I gave up after 10 minutes, and swung back by around 6:05 hoping to snag a pre-dinner beer at that time, and she *still* was fumbling around with it.

So, not an entirely unpleasant experience, but also not necessarily rushing back to this property for future stays - this room configuration worked well for what we needed (separate space for son, kitchen to give options for bringing food back to eat in room), but if just me +/- Mrs. G in future, would certainly aim for Autograph properties on Davenport side of river (Hotel Blackhawk and The Current) or try The Axis - Hilton Curio property also in downtown Moline (~ 6 blocks away).

I stayed here in 2020 - first night of my Hilton status challenge, so no status. I'd recommend this property (The Axis) just for location if nothing else. I explored a bit of the downtown area as a well as a nice hike along the river. Much of the Four Cities area was quite nice to explore.