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.