My girlfriend and I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in East Peoria (it's actually an Express, rather than a regular Holiday Inn as this site indicates) three separate times now and have enjoyed our stay each time. The hotel is conveniently located just off I-74; you can drive to downtown Peoria in a little over 5 minutes, and the riverboat casino is equally close, as are a variety of restaurants. It's a fairly new building with a nice lobby. The guest rooms, though, are especially nice. The king beds (and I would guess all of the beds) have extremely thick, comfortable mattresses that are amazingly comfortable. I'd say this hotel has the best beds I've ever slept in.

There's also a pool and fitness center (no whirlpool, though); we haven't used the fitness center but have enjoyed the indoor pool. The staff is friendly, although we haven't had any interaction with them other than the most basic check-in/check-out stuff. The only tiny complaint I have about this... more