La Posada de Taos Kicks Gas!

As part of the national Better Way to Stay Campaign sponsored by the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, La Posada de Taos Kicks Gas!

The B&B's Kick Gas promotion offers incentives to try a B&B for a change.  La Posada de Taos is offering two options: 

1. Book 4 or more nights and we'll give you a $50 gas card to enjoy driving either of the nationally listed scenic byways in our area: the Enchanted Circle or the High Road to Taos, 

or

2. Arrive in a Hybrid and we'll give you a $25 gas card. 

With gas prices through the roof, we're aware that many of our guests are feeling the pinch this year, so we're trying to add some value to an already remarkable stay at La Posada de Taos.  You'll still receive all the amenities we offer including the incredible multi-course gourmet breakfast, afternoon snack, free parking, free wi-fi, free DVD collection and our close-to-everything location.

Innkeeper Brad Malone is Ready for Your Call to La Posada de Taos

Give your Innkeeper, Brad Malone, a call at (800) 645-4803 and he'll set it all up for you.

Culinary Destinations

Guests who come to B&B's in Taos expect something more than the "toaster breakfast" served at local motels.  It's a given.  

Those that stay at La Posada de Taos also tend to have very refined palettes.  When they eat away from home, for example, they frequent fine dining establishments.

It's also a given that the cost of that breakfast is included in the price of your room.  Not so everywhere in Taos.  One boutique Inn that TripAdvisor.com ranks among the tops in Taos charges extra if you want the Innkeeper to serve breakfast.  Of course, Trip Advisor doesn't know or care about that.  Guests are on their own to find out whether that B&B actually provides both "B's" as part of its inclusive services.

From the very beginning of our time here at La Posada de Taos, we decided that our guests deserved the best we could offer.  We immediately focused on both "B's:  the beds and the breakfasts.  I'll save the story of our incredible linens for later, but I just wanted to introduce you to a few of our culinary creations.

Breakfast at La Posada de Taos always begins with cut fresh fruit, organic yogurt and our signature housemade granola.  This simple beginning sets the stage for a wholesome, hearty breakfast.  The first course is always accompanied by a variety of fruit juices such as our favorite Blueberry Pomegranate juice or orange juice.

Fresh Cut Fruit with Organic Yogurt and Housemade Granola Begins Breakfast Each Day at La Posada de Taos

 But what is breakfast without something baked fresh in the oven each day?  We're not talking store-bought muffins here.  And we're definitely not talking about anything prepared from a mix.  Nope.  At La Posada de Taos our chefs had determined that the only way our guests are going to enjoy their breakfast from beginning to end is that the baked item be made completely from scratch.  The housemade delicacies vary from day to day, but typically include a housemade blueberry muffin or a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit.  Yum!

La Posada de Taos' Made-from-Scratch Buttermilk Bisquit with a Selection of Chili Jams

Michael Carter, our own "Breakfast Guru," next prepares an entree that our guests always find memorable.  The Breakfast Tostada pictured below is an example.  The photo pretty much shows the makings of the dish:  corn tortilla, black beans, cheese, poached egg, corn chip strips, and a small avocado and tomato side. It's hearty, it's healthy and it's just one part of the well-balanced meal that our chef will prepare each and every day for our guests.

The La Posada de Taos Breakfast Tostada

I'll focus more on the incredible entrees and baked items in future posts.  We hope you get to come and enjoy breakfast with us some day.  It's always a memorable meal.

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.

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.