Meet Adam & Kara Arnold | Moteliers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adam & Kara Arnold, owners of the Little Canyon Inn, and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adam & Kara, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We have four boys and hiking in the mountains has always been something we’ve loved to do as a family. We wanted to bring the mountains to our front door and get our kids involved in running a small business. No better way to do that than to embark on a journey renovating a motel…anybody else agree? Adam works remotely as a small business technology consultant during the day and Kara is an herbalist and hardcore mom (when we aren’t moteliers). Coming from Nashville, TN we had a lot of learning curves to a life in southern CO. Teaching our kids that being comfortable isn’t the way we wanted to live and showing them that you are never too old to learn something new was all part of this journey. We had no experience with hospitality and quite frankly aren’t sure we are ever doing anything right but we are light on our feet and pivot when necessary. Some people probably start small like selling baked goods, but we took a big swing on renovating this old motel and somedays it feels like we hit it out of the park and other days not so much. It is good for our kids to see this and know that somedays are great and some days just aren’t but you gotta keep working hard.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are definitely unique. Not just our property but our approach to hospitality. Out of the gate we thought, “Hey what would we like to do out here,” and started from there building our vision. Cool outdoor space (continued improvements), clean modern looking interiors with unique fixtures in a great location. Kara added so many cool pops of color and design that really made the place modern & unique. We figured if folks didn’t like it, we at least did and that was good enough for us. We are never going to compete with Holiday Inn or a major luxury hotel like the Broadmoor. We are creating a different hospitality experience. We create a contactless check-in so you don’t have to go to our office and get a key; you just go right to your door. We don’t have TVs or share single use products like plastic shampoo bottles (except for sustainable napkins). We have handmade soaps. We focused on an outdoor patio experience to reinvent the idea of lodging, walking on our .75 mile trail or playing disc golf on the property. Many of our guests love just sitting on our patios and having coffee or enjoying a drink before their Royal Gorge excursion for the day. We often go out and chat with our guests, share drinks on their patio. Our kids come up and ask folks questions and chat with guests – it has a cool communal vibe but we also give our guests their space to enjoy the views on their own terms. Our kids have taken other kids on the trail and taught them how to play disc golf. When we are busy it feels like a neighborhood out on the property with everyone saying hello and chatting and just living a good mountain life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Now we are talking! Hiking and mountain biking would be our first stops. Cañon City is a premier spot for outdoor activity year round!! So, we would send you to visit the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. Hit up some of the trails over there like Twisted Cistern or The Maze, Tunnel drive down in town (and if you are feeling strong tackle the new Royal Cascade trail). Red Canyon Park is pretty awesome and we call it our discount Sedona. Awesome red rocks and beautiful views. We love the Temple Canyon area, we have hiked all over the US and it is one of our favorite short hikes – our kids love it! After all the outdoor recreation is done we would say try to work in a trip to Desert Reef Hot Springs, which is a pretty stellar place to visit and chill. For going out some of our favorite places are Fremont Provisions in town, Nirvana for Indian, Pizza Madness for a pie. For a great brew Florence Brewery makes some fantastic beer. Coffee at the bean peddler is a must in Cañon City. If you are visiting in the summer, rafting the Gorge is a must and eating at 8 Mile or Whitewater Bar & Grill right down the street are also musts! We make all of our guest and friends aware of Skyline Drive in town, which is a great little experience driving on a hogback that everyone needs to drive just once (or multiple times like us).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Wow, we have a long list of folks who helped us in this journey. Renovating has always been in Adam’s family and without his Mom and Aunt (amazing women…think Rosie the Riveter) to help with the tile work and other things on the property we never would have been able to open on time. Adam’s current and long time employer Keystone Business Solutions in TN and his awesome owner/boss over there Mike Miller who is maybe one of the most caring and considerate dudes you will ever meet. Beth Haley Design back in Nashville help with our room boards layout. Folks here in town like Rick Harrman at the City, Sage Goodwin at Tye Dye Sheep Productions. Pierce & Tarryn Larson(Regions Best Developers), Ashlee Sack over at Fremont Adventure Recreation, Brad Rowland w Emergent Campus (seems to know everyone in the Fremont County area) and Ty Seufer at Whitewater Bar and Grill out here who was super helpful (gave us some advice we kept close to the chest upon our arrival) all these folks helped us find our way out here. We also have networked with other motels throughout the USA, folks renovating like us. Particularly the folks over at Mesa Verde Motel. All of those other motels have been great for inspiration and support for our journey the list of motels is probably too long for this article.

Website: https://www.littlecanyoninn.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlecanyoninn/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleCanyonInn

Image Credits
Tye Dye Sheep Productions.