02/07/2022

Startup Stories: Iowa Hotel & Lodging Association

New associations launch to fill voids in their sector

Starting point. Iowa previously had a state-level hotel association, but the pandemic caused that organization to shutter, said Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of both the Iowa Restaurant Association (IRA) and the newly formed Iowa Hotel & Lodging Association (IHLA). Without an association, hotels couldn’t advocate for funding programs to help them through the roughest parts of the pandemic, nor could they prevent a new hotel tax whose proceeds don’t support the state’s hotel, tourism or hospitality industries.

“COVID really revealed you have to have a strong, unified voice in whatever type of organization or industry you’re in,” Dunker said. “The hotels, at exactly the moment they really needed that, their association folded. That’s why we started up.”

Iowa Restaurant Association members who operated inside hotels were telling Dunker about the problems hotels were facing and that they were looking for help. So, the restaurant group decided to start IHLA and serve as its management organization. IHLA has its own board.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.