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| La Posada de Taos Late Afternoon in Winter |
Expedia.com, hotels.com, travelocity.com, kayak, and hotwire.com all claim to have the most comprehensive listings and the best priced lodging on the Internet. Then why do they tell those surfing their sites that La Posada de Taos has nothing available when we have open room nights?
Simply put, we provide services to our guests. We care about the quality of each and every form of that service we provide. The booking sites sell "products" that mean only dollar signs to them.
In recent years various online booking "portals" have been created for folks to make lodging reservations just about anywhere in the world. These sites claim to have all of the information you need to allow you to make discount reservations in places such as Taos, New Mexico.
The problem is that these sites don't even begin to offer all that's out there -- especially at small B&B's or boutique Inns such as ours.
Until recently, La Posada de Taos participated directly with these online reservation sites, allowing guests to find us at hotels.com, expedia.com, travelocity, and others. These sites were all linked into information we provided to BedandBreakfast.com.
Our research indicated that guests who found us through those sites typically went ahead and looked directly at our website or called us. They sometimes booked through the larger company, but most people found that the best deals were offered directly through us -- not through a 3rd party reseller.
We frequently visited those sites ourselves and found the information they had posted about La Posada de Taos contained critical errors and omissions, often to the detriment of the guests themselves. For example, stating that breakfast was not included in the price of the rooms (we're a bed and BREAKFAST, so the price includes the full, multi-course breakfast) or that the rooms did not contain features that are standard here at La Posada. Guests were confused about check-in and check-out times or they did not know that there were specific limitations on the number of guests that each room can safely and comfortably accommodate.
We and all the others using these 3rd party resellers, had to pay hefty commissions. By the time we discounted their commission off of our rate, the real savings for guests was negligible or non-existent.
Their inventory systems did not match up with ours and we sometimes ended up with double bookings. In each case, we and we alone offered the guest a goodwill gesture of arranging upgraded accommodations for them at another local B&B.
When we left this system about a month ago, we joined a new network known as "GDS" that we hope will offer up-to-date and accurate information for anyone wishing to book rooms with La Posada deTaos. That system should be up and running in a few weeks. In the meantime, visit our online booking portal or call us directly, please.
If you visit one of these monster online 3rd-party companies and look for La Posada de Taos, they will tell you that we have no availability. That's nice information but it is dead wrong. In fact, it's deliberately false information designed to get you to book with a hotel or B&B that's paying the 25 or 30% commission to that 3rd party. David v. Goliath.
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| La Posada de Taos Offers Homemade Fare Each Morning |
So, give us a call, won't you? We'll offer you competitive rates based on the value of the services we offer: full, professionally-prepared, multi-course, gourmet breakfast; 600-thread-count sheets; concierge services, DVD collection, jetted tubs in premium rooms; privacy; close-in access to all the amenties offered by Taos itself; free parking; free wi-fi; free waters, sodas and teas. All in one price that you won't find anywhere else through any online re-seller.
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