WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (July 5, 2023) — The Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association (IHLA) has announced that Lowell Scott, Owner/Operator of the Holiday Inn Des Moines Airport/Conference Center, has joined the advocacy group’s Board of Directors.
Scott grew up in a hotelier family working side-by-side with his parents and siblings in a sixteen-room southside Des Moines hotel built by their father in 1952. A family of innovators, they spent decades evolving the business into their current 200-plus room hotel and 20,000-square-foot convention and conference center with restaurant and full banquet services. The Scott’s IHG branded hotel is located adjacent to the Des Moines Airport.
“Lowell is one of the state’s most visible and seasoned hoteliers,” said IHLA Board Chairman Scott Math, of Heart of America. “He has long been recognized as a resource for local, state, and national policymakers. Iowa’s entire lodging industry will benefit from the perspective he brings to the Board as we set and pursue our state legislative and regulatory agendas.”
The award-winning hotelier served for more than two decades, as well as Board Chair, for the IHLA’s predecessor. He was also on the Board of Directors for the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA). Scott was named the Iowa Lodging Association’s Hotelier of the Year in 1997. In addition to a Management and Human Resources degree from Simpson College, he holds a law degree from Drake University. Scott also earned his CHA (Certified Hotel Administrator) the hotel industry’s most prestigious credentials, through the American Hotel and Lodging Association Educational Institute.
Like his fellow IHLA board directors, Scott is an elected volunteer who helps determine and communicate the industry’s state legislative agenda to local, state, and federal lawmakers. He also serves on the Board of VALOR Iowa and the Warren County GOP Central Committee. He resides with his family in rural Warren County.
About the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association
Founded in 2022, the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association represents the state’s nearly 1,000 hotel and lodging establishments. In its first eighteen months, more than 150 hotel properties have already joined the IHLA’s ranks — representing 15% of the state’s lodging establishments.
The IHLA team also serves as part of the administrative group for Meet in Iowa, a program funded through the Iowa Tourism Office to help increase overnight hotel stays across the state. Since its roll-out in May 2022, the Meet in Iowa program is credited with increasing hotel room night stays across the state by more than 5,000 room nights.
For more information on the Iowa Hotel and Lodging Association, visit hotellodgingiowa.com. For more information on the Meet in Iowa program visit meetinia.com.
