Kinship Landing

Built from the ground up on a vacant downtown lot, Kinship Landing pairs hostel-style bunk rooms with high-end suites under one roof, betting that outdoor-minded travelers and budget-conscious locals can share the same address. It opened in January 2021 as one of the first independently owned boutique hotels in downtown Colorado Springs.

The place

Kinship Landing sits at 415 S. Nevada Ave. in the New South End of downtown Colorado Springs, a five-minute walk from the city's restaurant and nightlife strip. The four-story building rose on a vacant infill lot the founders bought specifically for the project, so there is no prior hotel history to the site.

The concept

Kinship Landing was built from scratch by husband-and-wife founders Bobby and Brooke Mikulas, who drew on years of independent travel through 17 countries to design a hotel meant to double as a community hub. The 41 rooms span an unusually wide range of formats in one property, from hostel-style bunk rooms to king suites with soaking tubs, fireplaces and garage-style doors that open onto Pikes Peak views, letting the same address serve backpackers and couples on a splurge weekend alike. The hotel opened quietly with guests in January 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, and held its official grand opening that March. It has since picked up write-ups in Forbes and Condé Nast Traveler and was one of the first independently owned boutique hotels to open in downtown Colorado Springs in decades, giving the city's lodging scene a genuinely local alternative to the branded chains that dominate it.

Dining & wellness

HOMA Café + Bar, the hotel's in-house restaurant, serves breakfast through late-night service daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The property also has a sun-filled indoor 'Greenhaus' lounge and a rooftop-style camp deck used for gatherings and events; no spa is on site.