News from Latigo Ranch: A Business Update

January 22, 2018

Last week, the Latigo owners Randy, Lisa, Hannah, Spencer, and Amanda made a trip to Denver to attend the combined conventions of the Dude Rancher’s Association (DRA) and the Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association (CDGRA). The DRA has 102 member ranches, and the CDRGA has 26. Randy has been a president of both association boards on multiple occasions, and this trip saw Spencer elected to the CDGRA board of directors.

Spending time at the conventions gave us a renewed sense of purpose and invigorated our enthusiasm for sharing why we do what we do. We’re launching several marketing campaigns in the next months as we try to fill out our booking schedule for the upcoming summer months.

While both associations make efforts to invite relevant speakers to their events, the true value of attending is in the conversations we have with other ranchers. You see, it would be entirely understandable if we viewed our fellow dude ranchers as our competitors; we are often trying to find very similar clientele, after all.

But we don’t compete.

In fact, if we get a call from someone who we think would be better suited to C Lazy U Ranch, then we will give them the number and send them on their way. If Drowsy Water Ranch is full up, and they get a call from someone who they think would love Latigo, we get a referral.

We aren’t competitors because we all love what we do too much to be greedy with our business. We want our guests to experience the West, ride horses, and relax in the mountains – we want to show the world why we love what we do.

So if someone has a good idea, they throw it up on the board and get everybody talking about it. If a ranch hits on a great marketing strategy, they share it with all of the other ranches in the association. We are all pulling for each other. We’re too small to do this without helping each other. And, frankly, that’s what it’s always been about here in the high country. You always lend your neighbor a hand, so when you need it, there’ll be a dozen hands to help you in your hour of trouble. We’re living the values of the old west; that’s how you survive out here.

And we want to invite you to come live it, too. If you know someone who would love a dude ranch vacation, someone who needs to unplug and get a 9,000 ft. view of the world, give us a call and book now. If we’re full, we can recommend a ranch you’ll love. Don’t forget to ask around for anyone who might be interested in working at a dude ranch, either. We’re open for hiring!

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