Sunday, January 30, 2011

Taos Ski Valley Ski Weeks

We're skiing this week up at the top-ranked ski resort in New Mexico:  Taos Ski Valley.  It's such a beautiful place and the entire organization is focused on professionalism and customer service in a way that renews our own commitment to the guest experience.

La Posada de Taos offers discounted lift tickets to all of its guests.  We'll help you set up any and all services you need at Taos Ski Valley so long as you let us know at least 72 hours in advance.

For each of the past few seasons, we've arranged full ski vacations for dozens of our guests.

Because we ski at TSV, we know the set-up and all of the staff who work so hard to set up ski trips for travelers from all over the world.

A big storm is supposed to come in tomorrow night through Wednesday.  We have confirmed with the Ski Valley that all services continue when it's snowing and all roads are kept clear with an aggressive plowing program. 

Having spent all day up there today, we can attest to the fact that there is plenty of snow at TSV already.  Unless you're a top-ranked skier wanting to jump down some of the Double-Black Diamonds, the mountain is open for business.  After this storm, we're hoping that these expert/professional runs are opened in time for the Extreme Skiing Event scheduled for about a month from now at TSV.

Ski Weeks, by the way, are a 6-Day package of instruction at one of the top-ranked schools in the country.  The Kid's School is ranked among the best in the world.

With miles of green and blue runs open, TSV is the place to be this season.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Taos Pueblo: Spiritual Center

These entries are intended as an introduction to Taos for those who are preparing to visit us at La Posada de Taos.  It is my hope that others will take interest and begin the journey to learn and understand about this unique place.

I'm writing about a place in the Hinterland where history stretches as far back as time itself and where its peoples have helped shape the destiny of our great nation in ways that are unknown to most.  It's the story of the Taos Pueblo and of towering historical icons such as Kit Carson.  If I were to write the story of America's Conquest of the West, the story of Taos would be inextricably woven into each chapter. 

Starting with the Taos Pueblo -- the oldest continually inhabited place in our country.  I've always wondered how it is that the Taos were never forcibly relocated from the ancestral home as were so many other Native Americans.   Why has this place somehow been continuously inhabited -- never destroyed or abandoned.  It is a fundamental piece of the story of what makes Taos so incredibly special, not just to those of us who live here, but to our entire national identity.  Here's why:

When I visit the Taos Pueblo with its 1000-year old dwellings, I think about all the storms it has weathered -- both literally and figuratively.  In the context of American expansionism in the 19th Century and the brutality we inflicted on so many tribes, it seems miraculous that this place has remained intact much as it has always been.

Perhaps it's as simple as the fact that the Taos were already settled in place when the Spanish arrived not long after 1500.  They were not nomadic as were so many other Native Americans who we forcibly removed from their lands and pushed into remote and desolate reservations.  They had an architecturally complex and unique home and were farmers and traders.  The Navajo Nation, on the other hand, were "enemies" because they would not settle down or remain in place as the American Government insisted was necessary for peaceful coexistence. 

Another reason that the Taos have survived "in place" is that they have continuously and closely observed their religious and cultural traditions passed down from time immemorial.   From the time the Spanish arrived almost 500 years ago, the Taos were a close-knit community bound together by their complex religious ceremonies.  It is completely my opinion, but some measure of respect for these traditions has always overcome efforts to destroy the Taos culture.

More likely than maintaining religious freedom is the fact that when Spanish Catholics arrived to spread the Gospel, the Taos were receptive to the New Testament story because it so closely resembled some of their own oral histories.  I suppose one could say that over time the two religious systems came to a form of detente where major observances were held simultaneously or within close time-frames to one another.  Thus, today Taos Pueblo celebrates the 2-day ceremony of San Geronimo with Catholic Vespers every September 29 and completely Native traditions on September 30.

But peace has not always been the status quo.  The Pueblo Revolt in the 1600's saw the violent rejection of all things Spanish and Catholic in New Mexico.  The Taos participated from the beginning of the Revolt and saw it to the bitter end. Although I'm not trying to dismiss the importance of these years of violence and struggle in the history of the Taos people, it seems to me that when the Spanish returned, it was with a better understanding of the importance of allowing the Taos their Native religious traditions.

The Taos have also been the victims of repeated efforts to take their ancestral lands away from them.  Fraud and deception sometimes resulted in the loss of lands to an amazing array of people who history does not smile upon.  The Taos have had to work to retain their lands and to protect themselves from being overrun by those who want to claim this place as their own.

The Taos have had to struggle against the U.S. Government's blatant land grab in the guise of "preserving" natural resources.  When Congress created the Kit Carson National Forest in the Teddy Roosevelt Era, it carved out ancestral lands of the Taos containing their most sacred place -- Blue Lake. 

Problem was that the boundaries of the ancestral lands of the Taos had been recognized by the Spanish long before the United States laid claim to the New Mexico Territory.  The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the American government would honor the land and water rights granted by the King of Spain.  Depriving the Taos of control over the lands containing Blue Lake can be equated with forcibly relocating them from their homes.

After years of legal efforts, however, Congress and President Richard Nixon finally returned the disputed lands to the control of the Taos Pueblo.  It was the first time in this nation's history that the U.S. Government had given back lands it had taken from a Native American tribe.  In fact, the peaceful triumph of the Taos in these efforts is credited with beginning a new wave of legal and civil rights efforts on behalf of Native Americans across the United States.

Next:  Taos Mountain

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Taos Pueblo: World Heritage Site

I live in the hinterland -- a place that is far from any coastline and remote from any urban area.  It is my hope that you will find some understanding of this place in Notes from the Hinterland.  In many cases I'll keep each entry relatively short -- a quick read of less than 5 minutes each.  As I tell the story of this place, each post will try to build upon those coming before.

Starting a story of Taos means that one should go back, back, back in time to find its original inhabitants.  That means that you start with the story of the Native Americans who first called this place home.

Most people have never heard of the Taos Pueblo.  They probably don't know where Taos is and they think Pueblo is a town in Colorado.   Like so many other things about New Mexico, Taos Pueblo remains a secret to most of the world at large.  Being the only inhabited World Heritage Site in the United States hasn't raised its profile.  Being one of the oldest continually inhabited structures in the North America hasn't brought it to public attention.

Pueblo de Taos, as it is known to some, is a place you must see in your lifetime. That is the sole purpose of writing here about Taos Pueblo -- to ask that you come here and to experience it for yourself.  In particular, you should Ask your Innkeeper at La Posada de Taos about which times of year are the most special to visit the Pueblo.  Christmas at Taos Pueblo, for example, is one of the primary reasons Travel+Leisure Magazine designated Taos as one of the Best Places to Spend Christmas in both 2001 and 2009.

The official World Heritage designation of Pueblo de Taos says in part:
"Taos is the best preserved of the pueblos north of the borders defined by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848). Located in the valley of a small tributary of the Rio Grande, Taos comprises a group of habitations and ceremonial centres (six kivas have been conserved), which are representative of a culture largely derived from the traditions of the prehistoric Anasazi Indian tribes who settled near the present borders of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado."
Archaeologists and anthropologists believe that the two main old buildings at Taos Pueblo are at least 800 years old.  The Taos people say that their buildings are much older than that.  This much we know for sure:  when the original Spanish explorers arrived at Taos soon after 1500, they found the Taos in their adobe buildings much as we see them today.

World Heritage Site Photo of Taos Pueblo
 As you can see, these structures are not teepee's, nor are they wigwams or igloos.  Constructed of adobe as only the Taos make, the structures are said to have been seven stories tall when the Spanish arrived.  The bottom floors, used for food storage, had neither windows nor doors.  The Taos employed their now-famous Pueblo Ladders to climb up to the safety of upper floors and pull their ladders up after them.  In modern times, doors and windows have been added for function.

A Pueblo-Style Ladder at La Posada de Taos

One of the ways to understand the significance of these structures is to realize that unlike so many nomadic peoples, the Taos were settled.  When the Spanish arrived about 500 years ago, the Taos had been settled here a period longer than our nation has existed.  By the time the Americans arrived in the mid-1800's the Spanish and the Taos had shared the land in this valley for almost 300 years, again a period longer than the United States has been around.   Americans,therefore, became the interlopers, the invaders and the uninvited.  Despite promises that everyone would be protected by this nation of laws, the Taos and the Spanish were circumspect at best and rebellious at worst.

Equally important to an understanding of the modern Taos Pueblo, is the role played by the Catholic Missionaries who accompanied the Spanish explorers and settlers.  As Willa Cather noted in her masterpiece "Death Comes for the Archbishop," by the time the United States annexed the New Mexico Territory, the Catholic Church had been the principal authority in the region since 1540.  The whole vast expanse stretching from Texas to California had sat ignored, isolated and uncharted until the very end of America's Westward expansion.  Even after California became a State, the New Mexico Territory remained just that -- seemingly unworthy of Statehood until 1912 (New Mexico's Centennial Celebration is gearing up this year).

Through all the centuries of repeated invasion and settlement, through all the years of rapid technological change, Taos Pueblo remained.  As Americans violently implemented all that Manifest Destiny demanded, the Taos remained in place at their ancestral home.  They were never forcibly relocated as were so many other Native Americans.  The complex history of their interaction with the European-American culture tells only a part of their story.

To many the Taos Pueblo helps form the spiritual foundation of this place we all know as Taos.  There are many who will disagree. 

In future blog entries I'll begin to describe this special place for those who want to visit; I'll try to provide context and color.   Please understand, however, that my telling of these stories will be affected by the lenses of my own life experiences and from the perspective of someone who is not from here.  Although I'll try to quote authoritative sources, my telling of the story of Taos will not necessarily be what you might hear from an official source or from a local.  Watch for future posts.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Kudos for New Mexico

Why is New Mexico suddenly getting lots of attention in the media? 

After yesterday's announcement that Sunset Magazine had listed Taos as one of the Best Places to Live Your Dream, Global Traveler Magazine has listed New Mexico as the Best Domestic Destination.

Since I've just restarted this blog, I haven't had time to tout some of the great things about Taos, but getting a little attention in a travel magazine or two reminds me that I've got lots of stories yet to tell.  The incredible range of subjects yet to write about include the Taos Pueblo, Kit Carson, Bert Phillips, Georgia O'Keefe, and so many more. 

A press release from the New Mexico Tourism Department stated in part:
"The readers of Global Traveler Magazine – voting on the best in business and luxury travel – have named New Mexico the Best Domestic Tourism Destination in the magazine’s seventh annual Global Traveler-Tested Reader Survey. Global Traveler is a premier luxury travel magazine written for executive business travelers."
Nice!  If you're interested in coming to New Mexico, we can be your guides.  Give us a call at (800) 645-4803 or visit our website.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sunset Magazine Agrees: Taos is One of the Best Places to Live Your Dream

My last post explained "Why Taos."  It seems to have been prescient in light of Sunset Magazine's designation of Taos as one of the Best Places to Live Your Dream.  The February 2011 issue of the magazine isn't online yet, but on page 69 you'll find a description of Taos worthy of quotation.

The focus of the spotlight Sunset Magazine shines on Taos, is the designation of Taos as the Best Place to Own a Vacation Home.
"Regardless of what brings a person to Taos -- art, snow play, its ethereal spirit -- those who fall for the town tend to fall hard.  It's this enduring appeal coupled with a limited housing supply that make for about as safe a second-home bet as you'll find."
We say, "Well said!"

When we first drove up to Taos all those years ago, we hadn't even made it into the Plaza before we knew -- or at least strongly felt -- that this was going to be our home some day.  It's that kind of place, really.

The dip in the housing market here, from our perspective, was a much about the national credit crisis than about any bubble.  Taos' economic cycles have rarely mirrored those of the nation.  With strong anti-growth forces in control of both the City and County governments for decades, Taos has never experienced what one might call a housing boom -- certainly nothing like what we've seen elsewhere throughout the Southwest.

Recent comments by the young, smart Mayor of Taos, Darren Cordova, appear to indicate a shift toward promoting some controlled growth.  He represents a new generation of Taosenos who recognize that as the natural cycle of business plays out, people retire, businesses close, and new businesses must be allowed to replace them. 

For those thinking of coming to Taos to shop for a Vacation Home, we'll welcome you at La Posada de Taos. Because we're right in the center of town, we routinely host folks who are looking to buy property in Taos.  On several occasions during the past year or so, our guests have fallen hard for Taos, bought property, and moved here.  Really!

Come pay us a visit, we'll show you why we think that this is a really special place.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Why Taos?

Many of my high school and college friends as well as many of my former business and law school colleagues have asked me how I ended up in Taos -- or rather WHY TAOS?  People who knew me in my "previous life" knew me as a driven individual.  I suppose most of my family and friends expected something other than being an Innkeeper.  Without a doubt, however, I have come to realize that Taos is my home and that this place was patiently waiting while I chased my tail elsewhere.

To quickly summarize, I chased my future career all the time.  After getting a Bachelors and Masters from Trinity University in San Antonio, I went to work for the Air Force who sent me to New Mexico in 1986 for procurement training at Kirtland AFB.  Never happy with what I had, I moved to Dallas where I continued to chase an elusive future of "happiness."  I eventually went back to school and got a law degree, even getting published along the way (See page "x" for the title of my paper).

Even after my career took me away from the Air Force, I kept coming back to New Mexico.  My stories posted to this blog from 2007 tell the story of one ill-fated trip down the Chama River in 1995.  But there were lots of other trips.  Climbing the La Luz Trail outside Albuquerque, visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings, White Sands, and even doing that almost impossible drive into Dog Canyon at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and then spending a few days and nights far, far away from anything but nature.

When I went back to work I'd always have a smile on my face.  Co-workers would ask, "What are smiling about?" Describing New Mexico and telling stories of my adventures here would only puzzle people in Dallas.  "You did what?  White-water what? Cliff Dwellings?  What hotel did you stay in?  Where did you eat?" were common questions that frankly I came to understand had no real answer for those who had to ask.

I now look back on all those years as preparation for Taos.  When guests at La Posada de Taos ask me the question of why I came to Taos, I often jokingly tell them that Taos is a great place to have a mid-life crisis.  I guess that means that Taos is my Corvette?

After years of chasing the dollar and pursuing a career track to the heart attack, I began to realize that maybe I was allowed to define success and happiness for myself.  In fact, I eventually understood that I would never be happy if my success was always going to be defined by how much money I made, what kind of car I drove, whether my teeth were perfectly straight, what neighborhood I lived in and whether I got my hair cut at the top-ranked men's barber in Dallas, Texas (which I did, go figure).

Too bad it took me 17 years to figure that out.

I understand now that those years of being detached from the place where my bliss resides were probably necessary for me to enjoy the life I now have.  Instead of spending an hour or two driving to work each way every day sitting in traffic watching bumpers, I now walk down a flight of stairs open the back door and take a long look at the mountain above town.  Instead of being pulled in a hundred different directions  to solve problems that were primarily the product of work-making inventions, I'm pulled away to help someone make reservations for a balloon ride or a white-water rafting trip.  Best of all, instead of receiving dozens of phone calls and e-mails that took a staff of administrative assistants to help me sift through, I now take every call myself and answer every e-mail personally in an effort to help people come to Taos and have a great time.

Although I intend to get active and be a citizen of Taos through various volunteer efforts, I've also had time to settle in and do things that feed my soul.   I've repaired and maintained a pond complete with fish and water lilly.  I've grown a large vegetable garden that produced a bounty for La Posada's chefs (see pages 3 and 4) to use all summer and early fall.  I've ridden down the Taos Box of the Rio Grande just outside town and have sped through walls of white water for no other reason but to make it to the other side.  I've been on the lifts and the slopes (bunny only) of one of the world's most challenging ski mountains and lived to tell about it.

Most of all, I've allowed myself to finally find my own measures of success and happiness in ways that have added years back to my life.

A Fish Pond Complete with Water Lilly Was One of My First Taos Projects

By the time I left the Big D, little A, double L, A, S, my blood pressure was already through the roof and out of control.  My skin was pale and I felt sick most of the time.  By the time I reached New Mexico almost six years ago, my hair had turned mostly gray and the circles under my eyes had become a permanent scar -- or so I thought.

Here at 7000 feet in Taos, I smile each morning as I drink my cup of coffee and watch the sun rise to light up Taos Mountain a few miles off my back balcony.  My Facebook friends from years back remark that they see the change in my face.  (I always thank them.)

The life returned to my soul when I came to Taos and for that I am thankful every day.

Growing a Large Vegetable Garden at La Posada de Taos was my "Zen 2010."

Taos is a lifestyle, but it's also a place where my soul can take the spiritual journey it has longed for.  Stay tuned. . .

Friday, January 21, 2011

Take Control of Your Trip Advisor Listing

With 50 million visitors -- that's 50 million unique visitors -- a month, Trip Advisor is in control of the travel review world right now.  Whether Yelp catches up remains to be seen.  So, I'm going to focus on Trip Advisor for now.
According to an e-mail that TripAdvisor sent to us early this year, Taos' TripAdvisor.com webpage and pages related to Taos received 1.6 million hits in 2010.  That's a lot of traffic for our little town.  
Are you fully optimized to get any business results from this traffic?

First, it's important that you realize that Trip Advisor is not just for reviews of B&B's, hotels and motels.  It has now extended its reach into restaurants, tours, and other attractions that may include ANY business in our area.  Look at the Taos Page, the Taos County Page or the New Mexico Page of TripAdvisor.com to see the many types of businesses being reviewed.

For example, if you look at the Restaurant Listings on any of these pages, you'll see El Meze Restaurant.  It has been consistently ranked #1 locally and either #1 or #2 statewide for some time now.   It is my opinion that this is in part because El Meze has actively promoted the business through Trip Advisor, in particular by encouraging guests to post reviews as they leave the restaurant.

Second, it's important that you realize that Trip Advisor is not your enemy -- even if some of your reviews have been bad, wrong, unfair or just plain stupid.  There are specific ways to deal with bad reviews and I'll discuss that issue in another blog post.  My point here is that Trip Advisor is now an important business tool for you to use with as much or as little time, money and effort as you choose.

As an example, La Posada de Taos has signed up for the subscription add-on that Trip Advisor offers.  On this page alone you will see links into the many ways the site has been restructured in recent years to allow you to control a lot of the information about your company that visitors to their website actually see.

Additionally, Trip Advisor has a plethora of promotional tools that any business can use.  We recommend that you consider signing up for the Business Listing and then pick and choose one or more tools.  We currently offer a promotional package of one type or another on our TripAdvisor listing, always trying to keep interest high for our listing.

Third, there are lesser known features about TripAdvisor.com that have been generating an increasing amount of traffic to Taos, including their Travel Forum and Travel Guide sections.  I strongly encourage all businesses in Taos to get active in these aspects of the Trip Advisor pages -- in particular the Travel Guide pages.  There is outdated information, useless information, self-promotional information and there are many things that need to be written or posted on these pages for the first time.  For example, look at the "Culture" posting for Taos on TripAdvisor.com.  It's terrible!  Well, OK, it's not great.  It needs help from someone in Taos who has the energy and enthusiasm to fix it.

A little over a year ago, a well-known and respected local Innkeeper asked me to assist answering questions on the Trip Advisor Travel Forum.  Over time with lots of posts, I was lucky enough to be designated as a "Destination Expert" on TripAdvisor.  I'll talk more about this issue in another blog post as well, but suffice it to say that before we started answering Forum questions many other so-called experts for New Mexico and Santa Fe were SLAMMING Taos, telling TripAdvisor visitors to New Mexico's Travel Forum that Taos wasn't worth visiting or that it was at most a day trip.  Ouch!
We have just about stopped that nonsense being posted by New Mexico's other Destination Experts, but it's a continuing battle. 

 The last point I'd like to make on this topic is about volume.  Any Destination is ranked in part by the volume of traffic it generates on any given website.   We know Google does this.  It is believed that Trip Advisor uses some Google search results for its rankings.  Google also bases its ranking on the frequency of content updates or upgrades.  Therefore, as a community, we can substantially raise our profile nationally and internationally if we ALL spend 15 to 30 minutes a week posting or tweaking something on the Taos Pages of TripAdvisor.com -- especially the Guide section where so much more is needed. 

 TripAdvisor.com is a Social Networking site.  Larger destinations with more resources than Taos have staff members who do nothing but manage their Social Networking sites such as TripAdvisor.com, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  We're not there yet.  This means that all of us, each of us, every one of us, can help control the future of our Town on that website -- the most important tourism website in the world.  I find it very exciting, personally.

 Good, bad or ugly, Trip Advisor is here to stay and I'm hoping we can all do some work to get this working for ALL of us.  Please help our community by doing the following:
  1. Claiming their Google Places Pages and keeping them updated
  2. Claiming their TripAdvisor.com listing and keeping it updated
  3. Visiting the TripAdvisor Forums and Guide pages and keeping them updated
  4. Posting content changes to your websites, your business listing sites and TripAdvisor.com

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Trip Advisor Arbitrarily Redraws the Lines of Taos

Taos is a place with a long history and with deep cultural roots extending back into time immemorial.  Those of us who call it home know this and the world knows this, but TripAdvisor.com does not know this.  My previous posts lauded Trip Advisor for how wonderful it can be to promote tourism.  Unfortunately, there's a dark side to their story when it comes to Taos.

If one were to describe Taos, they would have to do so on many levels.  Historical, cultural, political, demographics, geography, climate, and more.  To be sure there is what we all know of as the Town of Taos, but there are all of Taos' additional places that have never been incorporated, but are nontheless a part of the culture, heritage, history and politics of Taos.  El Prado.  Ranchos de Taos.  Arroyo Seco, Arroyo Hondo and more.

When Trip Advisor set up designations for lodgers in what we know of as Taos, they decided that they would use Zip Code designations.  This means that a businesses location on Trip Advisor will be determined by its Zip Code and not by where it actually belongs or where it identifies itself as actually being.  This also means that even if a business belongs to a Professional Association such as the Taos Lodgers Association or the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, Trip Advisor will designate its location by its Zip Code.

When you're looking for Trip Advisor reviews and information, do you search by Zip Code?  If not, will you click on something called "Taos County" when there's an adjancent link called "Taos."
It's a shameful thing because it is arbitrary, unfair and harmful.  Visitors to TripAdvisor.com's Taos page will not see businesses that are outside of Taos' Zip Code 87571.  In order to find our peers in El Prado, Ranchos, Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco and more, a visitor to their website must somehow find and click on the "Taos County" page.  This means that visitors are not allowed to find the all of the members of our business community unless they are pretty good researchers.

Compare this to a visit to the "Dallas" page on TripAdvisor.com.  When the page appears, it contains listings for businesses in Grand Prairie, Duncanville, Irving and more.  There is no Dallas County page whatsoever.  These are towns listed on one page, not separated out by Zip Codes, but fully formed cities with populations of greater than 100,000 people each.  Visitors don't have to dig around looking for choices because they're already given to them.   They don't have to look at Dallas County like they would have to do here.

Why the difference, Trip Advisor?

When we spoke to Trip Advisor representatives at the recent Professional Association of Innkeepers International conference in Charleston, SC, they began a circular argument that even they ultimately agreed fell flat.  Here's what they said, then caught themselves:  "Only Zip Codes matter, but in places like Dallas visitors don't know the names of these smaller cities, so we include them in "Dallas," but since it's all about Zip Codes, Taos' lodgers must all identify themselves by Zip Code only, although Dallas is different." 

Huh?

It's not just Dallas.  Look at any TripAdvisor page for any large city and you'll see that they have conveniently included all of the bedroom communities in the city's designation.  Not so here.

What's the harm?  Guests will never see reviews of some of the best B&B's in the Southwest unless they can somehow figure out that TripAdvisor has excluded them from Taos.  Visitors will never see Adobe and Pines Inn, designated as one of the "Best of the Southwest" or the Little Tree Inn, the nation's only true all-adobe Inn.

After repeated attempts by various individual businesses to get Trip Advisor to change this and after being told a variety of things, including "No," it's time to get some of our Professional Associations and public officals involved.  Therefore, I'm asking that if you have the time, to please approach the Taos County Chamber of Commerce, the Taos Lodger's Association, the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, the Taos Town Council, the Taos County Commissioners, the Tourism Association of New Mexico, and anyone else you feel may OFFICIALLY present this problem to Trip Advisor.

Write a letter of follow my Forum posts. 

Trip Advisor, LLC
141 Needham St.
Newton, MA 02464

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i14281-k4177751-l30721587-Incorrect_Geographic_Listings_in_Taos_Area-Owners.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i12104-k4177765-l30715037-Geographic_Designations_of_Properties_in_Taos_New_Mexico-Help_us_make_TripAdvisor_better.html

Our local businesses are being hurt.  It's time to get this fixed.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Google Place Pages

Before I launch into details about how to use TripAdvisor.com, you should probably be aware of the importance of Google Place Pages.  If you have already claimed your Google Places Page, you're not done yet.  Google has recently introduced several new products that are important for you to know about.  One expert recently told me that Google has introduced more new products in the last 4 months than they had in the previous 4 years.

If you haven't already claimed your business listing on Google you should immediately do so.  Don't worry, it's a simply process that you can complete in less than hour.  In fact, Google now has tutorials and a step-by-step lesson for you.

Why is this important?

In a recent TripAdvisor.com Forum posting, a Property Management Company representative from Santa Fe asked if there was anything she could do about how Google Places had links to reviews on Trip Advisor on her company Places Page that weren't for her company.  She was told in separate correspondence that Trip Advisor relies at least in part upon Google Places to identify companies.  She was told by Google that they rely on Trip Advisor listings to match reviews to "Places."

Caught in what seemed to be a circular trap, the company representative was exasperated.  The problem was that the reviews for this company on Google Places were NOT reviews for this woman's business.  They were reviews for a vacation rental company that had appropriated the business name via an identical domain name.  Ultimately, the problem wasn't really either Trip Advisor's or Google's fault -- it was a legal matter.

The point of this example is to show you the danger of not claiming and managing your business identity on Google and of not properly managing your business reviews on Trip Advisor.  If you have time, click on this link and follow the thread of responses -- there was a lot of confusion and a lot of wasted time and effort.  Because the TripAdvisor Forum was not the setting for a detailed response, I communicated via e-mail with the business rep.

My recommendation for this business:  they had not included the full name of their business when they claimed their Google Places identity.  I recommended that she start over on Google Places as if claiming a NEW business identity and once she had that set up, she could "Suspend" the first one.  Most people don't know it, but as the business owner, you have the power to remove your Google Places Page as long as Google can verify your relationship as owner.

An example of a Photo on La Posada de Taos' Google Places Page


Finally, I want to relate to you that La Posada de Taos did not claim its Google Business Identity on what is now known as Google Places until late in 2009.  At the time I first went to claim it, their map had us out on the West Mesa (we're downtown) with 3 rooms instead of 6 and lots of other misinformation.   We claimed our Identity and we keep our page current with visits every few months.  Here's what we currently do.  If the link doesn't work, do a Google Search using keywords La Posada de Taos and Google Places.

From time to time I'll have more information on Google Places Pages, but for now here are the Must Do's:

  • Fully complete all the information
  • Include photographs
  • Link a video (even if it's just a generic Taos video from YouTube)
  • Look at ALL of the business development tools available through Google, use at least one.
  • Check your Google Map location (you can change it here easily)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Why Trip Advisor Matters

For our guests and fans, La Posada wants to extend a huge Thanks for the recent reviews on TripAdvisor.com.  For local businesses in Taos, this is the first in a series of articles that I'll be posting introducing you to TripAdvisor.com and assisting you in using all the business tools that they have to help you grow in 2011.

We recently had the opportunity to attend the annual Professional Association of Innkeepers International Conference and Trade Show in Charleston, SC.  At that conference, several representatives of TripAdvisor.com were there to answer questions and give factual information regarding developments at the world's largest travel review website.

When we took over Taos' First B&B in 2008, it had already been operating continuously since 1982.  We didn't know much about Trip Advisor, but we knew it was the 600 pound gorilla in the corner of the room.  At the time of our take-over, La Posada was #8 out of 26 B&B's in "Taos" and #12 out of 48 B&B's in the Taos area.  More on the difference in "areas" later.

We quickly rose to the #2 spot early in 2009 and have held steady at #2 or #3 ever since.  Earlier today, the newest listing from TripAdvisor.com came out and La Posada de Taos moved into the #1 spot for all of Taos and the Taos vicinity.  We're really proud of this new designation.  Here's the latest listing for "Taos" and the "Taos Area."

La Posada de Taos


If you're not familiar with TripAdvisor.com, it is the world's leading travel review website with over 50 million visits per month.   Because it allows anyone and everyone to participate, it is a Social Networking website of the first degree.  Facebook is the largest of them all and was featured in last summer's hit movie The Social Network.

Although other websites allow you post reviews like Trip Advisor does, none of them approach the volume of traffic.  A newer -- some say more savvy -- website known as Yelp is quickly gaining popularity, but is still dwarfed by TripAdvisor.

In addition to reviews of B&B's and hotels, Trip Advisor accepts reviews of restaurants and other attractions, including other businesses in any given area.  As part of an effort to assist other members of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce, I'll be posting information on the business uses of TripAdvisor.com in my upcoming blogs.

Be sure to post back comments and questions on this blog if you have anything.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Reviews Don't Lie: La Posada is Truly Special

Since becoming an Innkeeper in May 2008, I've had a shift of perspective away from many of the things found in big city life such as career tracking and toward simpler things such as the history of my new hometown and those who have lived here for over 1000 years, the Taos people.  Of course, it helps that I get to do this in Taos and that I get to share it all with guests from all over the world.

La Posada de Taos is a Bed and Breakfast in Taos, NM.  It was the first in town almost 30 years ago and it has remained in constant operation since its visionary founder rescued the historic home.   As the first B&B in town, we believe that we have a higher set of standards to meet and we have worked hard to keep raising the bar for ourselves as we prepare to enter our 3rd full year as the stewards of La Posada.

Our focus has always been on the customer experience, particularly the comfort of our guests.  Soon after we took over the Inn switched to 600 thread-count sheets and pillow cases.  Guests rave about them and we offer them for sale when we can keep them in stock.

Food standards are no different.  Immediately upon assuming control of the kitchen my partner and the Inn's Chef Michael Carter threw out the old 3-ring binder of breakfast casserole recipes and began introducing his own signature dishes each morning.  Featured in this first of many breakfast photos to come is Michael's Blue Corn Toasted Pinon Waffle with Buttermilk Biscuits, fresh fruit, housemade granola and organic yogurt.

Blue Corn Toasted Pinon Waffles:  Chef Michael Carter's Signature Dish


When you come to a B&B like La Posada, you're going to be surprised.  Unless you're staying at a 5-Star resort, H\hotels and motels are sterile, impersonal places.  Not so here.  Reviews of La Posada de Taos posted on TripAdvisor, Yahoo, BedandBreakfast.com and other travel review sites indicate that we are the #1 B&B in Taos that includes breakfast in the price of your room.

Having just returned from the 2011 Professional Association of Innkeepers International (PAII) Annual Conference and Trade Show in Charleston, SC, we are ready to continue to raise our standards and to focus even more resources on the guest experience.  Stay tuned.