Meet Jonah Hearne | Owner, Club Hotel

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jonah Hearne and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jonah, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Since opening the Club Hotel in Idaho Springs and learning about roles boutique hotels have had in communities around the country, I have been inspired to make our business a significant benefit to Idaho Springs and Clear Creek County as a whole. The most obvious contribution has been bringing in visitors and connecting them with all the things Clear Creek County has to offer. We carry local soaps from the Soap Shop on Miner Street. We look for unique experiences our guests can have led by local business owners that lead guided hikes, or white-water adventures. This year we are partnering with a local church in hosting a community dinner in our event space and the county health services hosting a dinner for people needing to connect with others. The Clear Creek Center for Arts and Education has been running a summer film series in the event space which has been helping us learn the best way to present movies at the Club Hotel. This has been developing into the Clear Creek Film Festival launching in November 2026. At the Club Hotel, we are focused on providing a unique guest experience you can only get in Clear Creek County, CO and benefiting the community of Idaho Springs through cultural events.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My entire career from 1999 until 2016 was in manufacturing. I worked as a swing shift supervisor up to a director in a global company. All that was interrupted in 2016 with an unexpected layoff that forced me to consider other alternatives. While I still found employment in manufacturing, I did serve a brief time in banking and construction where I made connections and learned a significant amount about lending and renovations. In 2017, I created 5340 Investments with my family and went to work on finding the right type of investment that would start our first business. In my time in manufacturing, discovered my talent in teaching and coaching. All of this experience has helped me lead the team through a difficult 3-year renovation of the building and overcome all the obstacles in our first year of operations. One of the keys has been breaking down the work into achievable tasks and getting to work. Before you know it, the tasks are done, and the issue has been resolved. One of our biggest challenges has been working through the financing of the project and getting the everything refinanced now that the business is running. It has been a steady stream of finding new contacts and working the problem until we have finally found a private bank that it still financing new businesses.

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.
Right now, we would have to explore the mountains with Aspens changing color and everything looks beautiful in the high country. There is fantastic BBQ at Smokin’ Yards in Idaho Springs for a great dinner. Another must be a beer at Prost in Denver. The location gives you a great view of the city and every beer is perfect. We would have to visit Casa Bonita just for the experience. We would stop by the Fort or Buckhorn Exchange to get a flavor of the history of Colorado and the amazing stories from the Wild West days.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There is an amazing list of people who have helped find my path to start this business. Most importantly, my wife Lana Hearne, has been the strongest supporter starting with taking the leap on purchasing this property with me before she even saw its condition. She made it through a 3-year renovation and very hard first year. She has joined several community boards in Idaho Springs and Clear Creek County, all in an effort to help the community improve its image and attract more tourism. With her support and holding me accountable, none of this would have been possible.

Website: https://www.clubhotelcolorado.com

Instagram: @clubhotelcolorado

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayh74/

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

Image Credits
Cami Rosine, photographer