Holiday Inn Des Moines-Airport/Conf Center by IHG — Hotel in Des Moines

I’m not one to complain without reason — especially when a simple conversation could resolve a problem.

One of my athletes drove 11+ hours from Dallas to Iowa to compete in the 2025 TBA Classic World Muay Thai Expo. She funded this trip through extra work and sponsors to chase her dream of becoming a MMA fighter.

After the Holiday Inn Des Moines Airport/Conference Center was sold out, she booked a hotel across the street. Despite making weight and preparing for her fight, she looked outside and saw her car being towed.

The lot was overflowing due to the event, and although there were clear white boxes marking her spot, she was told by the tow company that the hotel had called it in. When I reached out to the hotel to resolve this, it was told by the owner they wouldn’t help.

This is one of those times I wish empathy weren’t so hard to come by. Sometimes all it takes is a little understanding and a simple conversation.

— Katty Strite

*Despite the all this, she managed to push through, overcome and become the new 2025 Muay Thai, World Expo Champion ✌🏼

Update to Owner response

I can definitely see how parking could become a tricky situation, and I’m sorry it’s been such a headache for you. My athlete did not park on the grass, but I completely understand your frustration with the general parking challenges and how difficult it is to navigate compliance at a busy event.

That said, I think one immediate solution could be making a clear announcement during the event before calling a tow company. Additionally, perhaps setting aside a dedicated section for event parking, along with an official parking pass or sticker on the dash, could help prevent issues like this. I’m sure most people would gladly pay a small fee for that peace of mind.

More than anything, I just want to offer solutions so that this doesn’t happen again. It broke my heart to receive a call from my athlete crying right before her fight — after all the money and effort she put into making it to the event — panicked because her car was being towed. Of course, I covered it for her so she could focus on why she was there in the first place.

Thank you again for your time and for the kind congratulations. I truly appreciate you hearing...

During our stay, after flushing the toilet, the water level in the bowl began raising and the toilet began overflowing, pouring out onto the bathroom floor including pieces of NUMBER TWO - REVIEW WON'T LET ME SAY THE WORD - (that did not belong to us because none of us had GONE NUMBER TWO during our time there - so it was literally a stranger's NUMBER TWO). The water was yellow/brown, indicating that it was clearly sewage. When we initially called the front desk to report this, they seemed nonchalant and sent a maintenance worker (who indicated that he was an electrician) with a plunger - he took one look at the mess and left the plunger with us stating "I don't think I can help with that." We called the front desk - obviously angry about how the situation was being handled, I mean, someone else's BODILY FLUIDS and god knows what else was spilling into our room and onto the carpet at this point - and demanded that we be moved to another room. The individual hung up on us but sent the same electrician to let us know that we had been moved and to give us our new key cards. Meanwhile, some of our clothing that was on the bathroom floor at the time it began overflowing was now RUINED and had to be left behind because there was no way to salvage it.

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