Hiking For Everyone! Hundreds of Miles of National Forest Trails.

If you've already visited us in Taos this year, we hope you found your way back home safe and sound.  New Mexico certainly made news headlines for a few weeks while the horrific fires burned far to our south.  Although the fires were far, far away, the Forest Service closed them as far north as Taos as a safety precaution.  Our relatively wet Spring had given us some moisture compared to those places around Los Alamos and Santa Fe that are still closed because of both fire damage and continuing fire danger.

But for those of you who are yet to come to Taos, we wanted to let you know that much still awaits anyone wanting to come. 

The dry weather pattern that seemed to have persisted across the State of New Mexico for so many months has finally broken and the seasonal "monsoons" have arrived.  Daily showers can be seen building above town in the mountains and they might occasionally drift this way or that, so we're never really sure whether we'll get rain in town.  You can be assured, however, that if you're above 10,000 feet anywhere in the Southern Rockies these days, you're most likely going to get very wet and cold.

The National Forests in and around the immediate vicinity of Taos have been reopened, meaning that all the best hiking and biking trails are ready for you to visit.  Additionally, all of the Taos Ski Valley venues are wide open as well, including the most popular Williams Lake Trail.  Some of our guests reported a light dosing of "gropel" the other day -- very light snow that resembles styro-foam.  They enjoyed the experience.

If you're coming to hike during monsoon season, leave right after breakfast, pack lots of water, sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, food and (did I mention?) water.  More water, in fact, than you think you'll need.  Altitude can quickly dehydrate anyone.

A View of Taos Mountain from La Posada de Taos

Schedule your return to your car for no later than 3:30 PM each day.  That's about the time that locally heavy rain or snow might visit the higher trails.  The more intense any particular thunderstorm may become, the colder the temperatures it will deliver to any section of the higher mountain terrain.  So, don't risk ruining a great day -- come on back down to Taos where it might be sunny and warm or we might be having a brief shower.

La Posada has also had a Day Hikes for Guests of La Posada de Taos book printed that features some of the finest choices for hiking if you're just here for a couple or three days.  If you have time, review it once you've arrived.  It's terrific.

Northern New Mexico Sky Early Afternoon July 21, 2011

 August is a joyous time in Taos when the monsoons can keep things cool for everyone while so much of the country bakes in 100+ degree temperatures.   That kind of heat is virtually unheard of in Taos, so plan on coming to the mountains for a cool time.

Hiking, horseback riding, and llama trekking await you!

Service to our Community

As we celebrate our 3rd Anniversary at La Posada de Taos, we realize that we have a lot to be thankful for.  Since Day 1, our new hometown has welcomed us with open arms and embraced us with enthusiasm for our goals in restoring and preserving Taos' First B&B.

La Posada de Taos Front Courtyard

We knew all along that our efforts would succeed -- I mean, with an owner who supports everything we do, how could we fail? 

The long-term plan was that once we had "settled in" to the business and things were well established, we would turn our attention to serving our community.

The Town of Taos has about 5000 permanent residents.  There are another 10,000 or so in the unincorporated areas immediately surrounding Taos and a total of just over 30,000 in the entire County. 

Incredibly, we get about a million visitors a year to Taos and the Taos Pueblo.  So, even though the permanent population is small, the community is large in many ways.

Last year, yours truly, Innkeeper Brad Malone, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Taos Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns.  Within the last few weeks I have been elected to the Board of Directors of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce.

Both positions are all about "Service" in organizations that are dedicated to keeping Taos in the forefront of the nation's list of "Top Destinations" and both require that evolving trends in Internet Marketing and other business tools be studied and quickly implemented.

The Chef's Garden at La Posada de Taos

 But don't worry.  I'm still around every hour of the day possible to focus on the needs of our guests and to help everyone have a great stay in Taos.  In fact, this time of year, as we pass our average "last frost" date, I'll be here working in the yard and getting our Chef's Garden ready to plant in a few weeks.

C'mon out, won't you?

Stay at a Real Bed & Breakfast

La Posada de Taos was the first B&B in Taos when it opened its doors almost 30 years ago.  Since that time it has remained continuously open and operating to offer its guests both Beds and Breakfasts each day.

La Posada de Taos always serves fresh-baked items at Breakfast

Why am I mentioning this?  Many people don't know it, but at least one of the "B&B's" at or near the top of Trip Advisor's Taos B&B page isn't a B&B at all.  Fact is that guests at that small Inn have to pay extra for breakfast, so most simply skip the extra expense.  Don't let their reviews fool you: if someone mentions they had breakfast at this non-B&B, they paid a boatload of extra cash for it.

Staying at that "other place" means missing out on one of the essential truths of a B&B:  that special time each morning when guests from all over the world gather in some of Taos' most historic homes and break bread together.

At La Posada de Taos and other members of the local Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns (TABBI) we never charge extra for breakfast.  It's simply not done in our industry.

La Posada de Taos' Breakfast is included in the price of your room.

Be sure to ask when you're booking whether that price includes breakfast.  If the quoted price only includes the room with some other frilly-sounding stuff, call a B&B and compare.  

You get the beds, the breakfasts and all the other great stuff at one cost when you stay with us.  Don't let Trip Advisor's categories fool you.

Call your Innkeeper, Brad Malone today and ask him, "What's for breakfast, Brad?"  

Don't Be Fooled: Book Your Rooms Directly With La Posada de Taos

The Message:  if you want the most accurate information about availability at La Posada de Taos with the best pricing we offer, give us a call at (800) 645-4803 or visit our website at laposadadetaos.com.

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.

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.

Do You Use Trip Advisor? Warning!

Do you use Trip Advisor?  About half of those who call us report that they found us on TripAdvisor.com. That's huge for a small business.  When half of your customers come from one source, you kind of feel like you should be paying attention.

Because we track the sources of hits to our website using a product called Google Analytics, we know that our guests also find us using BedandBreakfast.com, the New Mexico Bed & Breakfast Association, the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, the Taos Vacation Guide, and the Taos Chamber of Commerce.  There are at least another dozen sources of hits to laposadadetaos.com originating with companies other than Trip Advisor who provide unbiased information regarding destinations in Taos.

Within the last quarter, however, TripAdvisor.com has overtaken everyone on our Google Analytics Report to become the #2 means of finding us -- behind only the ever-omnipresent "Google Organic Search."  TripAdvisor.com recently moved into the Top 30 websites on the entire Planet!  With 60,000,000 hits per month, its volume dwarfs all other Social Networking Travel sites.  The increase in hits to our website from this one site has been in excess of 5000%.

Incredible isn't it?

Because we have recently moved into the top slot on TripAdvisor.com's listing of Taos County B&B's, we're also working hard to merit that listing (of course, to really hold onto this type of thing, you have to be having fun doing it!).  A competitor who also sometimes inhabits the #1 spot doesn't include breakfast in the price of his lodging.   Regardless of the exact placement, being at or near the top of TripAdvisor's listings has also brought us not only more hits to the website, but a healthy increase in business.

I wish that I could end this blog entry there with the sunny story of success.  Not so, however.

As a Board Member of the Taos Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns, I'm always interested in the overall trends in the industry.  Trip Advisor's impact on lodgers in Taos continues to play itself out, but we can already see that it's doing both good and bad things in our small town.

On the good side, Trip Advisor is available for visitors to get some additional information about the choices in Taos.  

On the bad side, the choices in "Taos" that Trip Advisor is showing are incomplete and in some cases downright misleading.  Trip Advisor is arbitrarily excluding some of the top choices available to visitors by using an ancient Zip Code map that ignores some of the best B&B's in the entire Southwestern U.S.  

In some cases, B&B's are not listed as "Taos" and you cannot find them unless you know the name of the tiny old Zip Code they are in (these aren't incorporated areas, by the way).  Another way to find them is to find the tiny little green print near the top of the page that has geographical breakdowns.  If you can find it, click on "Taos County," please.

In an effort to make full disclosure: as you have probably guessed, La Posada isn't excluded from the Taos listings.  We have no financial interest in the businesses who are being hurt by this.  Our interest is in making sure that all visitors to Taos get complete information.  

I've addressed this issue before and I'm part of a continuing effort by various professional associations to get Trip Advisor to fix the problem.  Please understand that this effort has been going on for years.  Trip Advisor's corporate mentality, however, is clearly self-absorbed and defensive.  They not only cannot see how their arbitrary geographic designations are destroying small businesses, they deny that it could possibly be true.  Very defensive!

Problem is that the numbers don't lie and TripAdvisor doesn't care.  I've heard various local businesses discussing litigation.  

In the meantime, please don't use Trip Advisor as your only source of information.  Use it for reviews, but please realize that it is not authoritative.  What you can count on is that TripAdvisor.com's listing for Taos will be inaccurate, incomplete, misleading and arbitrary.  

We recommend that you use at least one other source of information when planning your Taos trip, please.

SBA Disaster Assistance

If you haven't read my previous post regarding making claims in general, I encourage you to do so before you read this one.

Whether President Obama signs a Disaster Declaration for Taos County is unknown at the time of this post.  It may take several more days before anything actually happens, but I'm going to post this information with hopeful optimism that Washington doesn't let us down.

There are some types of immediate assistance grants available to homeowners through FEMA.  Some of the specific items covered include water delivery systems for example.  You can file directly through FEMA for this assistance and they promise a 10-day turn-around time in most cases.

More comprehensive assistance is administered through the Small Business Administration.  These are all Disaster Loans -- not grants.  Navigating their website can be a little daunting, but here are key links:

Types of Disaster Loans are described as:

• Home and Personal Property Loans

  SBA states:  Renters and homeowners alike may borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, etc. damaged or destroyed in the disaster. Homeowners may apply for up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence to its pre-disaster condition.  A Factsheet for Homeowners is available online and applications can be filed electronically or over the phone.

• Business Physical Disaster Loans 
  

  Physical Disaster Loan proceeds may be used for the repair or replacement of the following: Real property, Machinery, Equipment, Fixtures, Inventory, Leasehold improvements

In addition, disaster loans to repair or replace real property or leasehold improvements may be increased by as much as 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to real estate and/or leasehold improvements as verified by SBA to protect the damaged real property against possible future disasters of the same type.
SBA loans cover uninsured and under-insured physical damage. If you are required to apply insurance proceeds to an outstanding mortgage on the damaged property, you can include that amount in your disaster loan application.

• Economic Injury Disaster Loans

  If your business is located in a declared disaster area and has suffered economic injury because of the disaster (regardless of physical damage), you may be eligible for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Substantial economic injury is the inability of a business to meet its obligations as they mature and to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses. EIDLs provide the necessary working capital to help small businesses survive until normal operations resume after a disaster.

  The Factsheet for Businesses should be helpful.
  

Please note that if you have insurance that may cover part of your loss, the SBA Factsheet states that you should not wait for your insurance claim to be processed before you file for an assistance loan with them:

Should I wait for my insurance settlement before I file my loan application?
No. Don’t miss the filing deadline by waiting for an insurance settlement. Final insurance information can be added when a settlement is made. The SBA can approve a loan for the total replacement cost, but any insurance proceeds that duplicate SBA’s loan must be applied to your SBA loan.

I hope this gets you started if you're thinking about the SBA process.  They state in several places that their loan applications are processed within 18 days, but that the most common reason for delay is that some piece of information was not provided or verified to them.

This is a kind of "heads up" to those who have never dealt with the U.S. Government.  They want each "i" dotted and every "t" crossed before they approve your loan and they'll want hard copies of just about everything they ask for, but don't be discouraged.  This low-interest loan program is a reason why we pay Federal Income taxes each year.

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