CO Dude and Guest Ranch Association

Since 1934, the Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association has been representing and promoting its member ranches. Before you ask, there isn't any difference between the term Dude and Guest Ranch — but at the time they organized they had members using both terms and thought it best to include both in the name. The association's executive director Courtney Frazier shares more details about the organization.

Frazier: "So we are really a marketing organization. We're getting the word out about dude ranches here in Colorado. Helping to drive traffic to our site and then again to the individual's destinations. That to many folks is a big benefit. We also send our members direct leads so through our marketing efforts, we're actually sending daily leads to our member ranches here to follow up on to hopefully book that guest. That is the overarching branch of our association — however, we've got a lot more to offer. We recently did a survey asking our members the number one reason that you are a member or our association. There were a variety of answers there but I would say that the two most popular were marketing and then also just the sharing of ideas. One of the things that happens in our industry — that doesn't necessarily happen everywhere — is the sharing of ideas. If something is working at one of our ranches, these folks are really excited to share that information. It isn't that scary proprietary information that a lot of times isn't shared within an industry. These folks really want to help all of our ranches within the state to succeed."

To learn more, go to coloradoranch.com