What is the Taos Pueblo?

It's hard to summarize in a blog just exactly what the Taos Pueblo is, but I'm going to try.  

First, it is a World Heritage Site recognized by UNESCO as one of those places that all of us have a duty to preserve.  Take a few minutes to read the "official" description as to why Taos Pueblo is such a special place.

Second, Taos Pueblo is the only inhabited World Heritage Site in the United States.  This means that in addition to all those incredible things that make it a World Heritage Site, it is also a place that many people call home.  

Third, the people of the Taos Pueblo are nothing short of a treasure.  They have worked tirelessly over the decades of American rule to preserve their heritage while also being citizens of the United States.  Taos Indians have long been known to be the best type of friends anyone can have and their allegiance to our country in the form of the ultimate sacrifice is legendary.

Finally, the five story structures made of adobe are the oldest continuously inhabited structures in North America.   When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived 500 years ago, the buildings had already been standing for 500 years.  Yes, right here in Taos on the Pueblo are 1000 year-old homes.

I'll revisit this topic from time to time in the future. My Mom and I visited there on a beautiful early Spring day in March and fell in love with this incredible place all over again.



In the meantime, I encourage you to read my reviews on TripAdvisor.com regarding the Pueblo.  I can assure you that anyone posting a negative review is simply confused at the difference between an ancient people's ancestral home and Disney World.  

Visit their website and plan a trip to Taos.  You'll be welcome with open arms.

What to do in Taos

A proper answer to the question originates from two key pieces of information:  how long are you here and what are you most interested in.

In this first entry I'm simply going to list things and provide links.  If you need more information, please search the blog by keyword for later entries or please contact me directly via telephone (800) 645-4803, e-mail or our Ask the Innkeeper feature from our website.

One Night:
Because La Posada de Taos has only six guest rooms, we cannot take advance reservations for one-night stays.  We understand that you might not be able to stay more than one night and we really wish that we could be included in your advance planning.  

We do take single-night stays, but they are only if an available room is booked within a day or two of the actual stay.  We recommend that you read the reviews of various places on TripAdvisor.com for Taos County and that you then pick ONE thing from the lists below.

Two Nights or More:
1. Arrive in the early afternoon and visit the Taos Pueblo.  Be sure to call ahead to confirm they are open.  The Taos Pueblo Tourism Office phone number is (575) 758-1028.

2. Arrive at La Posada de Taos during check-in time between 4 and 6 pm.  If you haven't already made dinner reservations, be sure to ask me about the menus and our recommendations for choices in and immediately around Taos Plaza.  If it's a holiday weekend, you'll need to do this BEFORE coming to Taos.

3.  Stroll over to Taos Plaza and visit shops and galleries and find your dinner destination. We don't recommend that you drive on your first night -- just relax and stay close to home.  There are at least two venues that feature live music each night within a 5 minute stroll of La Posada.

4. Next Day: Pick One . . . or Two . . . or More

Museums and the Arts: We always recommend that you visit members of the Museum Association of Taos where you can buy a single pass that will get you into all of them.  But, if you only have time to get to one museum, pick one of these three:  The Harwood Museum of Art, The Taos Art Museum or the Millicent Rogers Museum. 

Eco-Tourism:  If museums aren't your thing, then there are more eco-adventures here than you can possibly complete in a week:

Downhill Skiing  -- there are 4 ski resorts close by
Cross-Country Skiing -- both public and private areas open
White Water Rafting -- there are a dozen whitewater outfitters here
Horseback Riding -- there are several horse outfitters here
Llama Trekking - National Geographic Magazine's Bucket List
Hiking -- easy to difficult
Hot Air Ballooning -- there are several ballooning companies here
Mountain Biking -- miles and miles of world-class trails
Golfing -- Taos Country Club or in Angel Fire

Driving Tours:  if you want to see some beautiful scenery, we have two of the country's most scenic drives right here.

The High Road to Taos
The Enchanted Circle

Shopping:  Taos has lots of small shops and galleries where local artists and artisans have their world-class creations on sale.  Almost all of these businesses are within an easy walk of La Posada de Taos.

Workshops and Classes:  Taos has a thriving community of Master Artists, including painters, sculptors, potters, jewelry makers, and chefs who teach their craft.  Although we're working on making a single clearinghouse for these classes available to our guests, we recommend that you contact galleries directly for art classes. 

Spas:  There are dozens of businesses in Taos dedicated to top-notch spa services.  We recommend that you start with the Taos Vacation Guide listing as a reference of what' available.

During 2011, La Posada de Taos will be offering Cooking Classes to its guests upon Request.  Costs will vary based upon themes and number of students.

Special Events, Festivals, Openings, Etc.: there are whole calanders full of things such as this weekend's Taos Shortz Film Festival or Independent Films at the Taos Community Auditorium or any number of incredible winter events at the world-class Taos Ski Valley Resort.

Complete Listings:  You can find the best listings of things to do and special events at the Taos County Chamber of Commerce and the Taos Vacation Guide.  The Taos Ski Valley Chamber of Commerce also works hard to provide up-to-date information. 



5.  Repeat to Your Heart's Content or as Time Allows

6.  Come back on work on the list a little more.

State of Emer

Driving down Paseo del Pueblo Sur on my way to run some errands, the blinking roadside marquee read:  "State of Emer" and then provided some phone numbers for the public to use during the Gas-tastrophe. 

Everyone in Town knows what the sign means -- it didn't need much else to explain.

The National Weather Service now acknowledges that the storm that swept across this region and much of the country last week was one of the record books.  The Special Weather Statement issued for the storm predicted for later this week in New Mexico said the following:

WHILE THIS SYSTEM CURRENTLY IS EXPECTED TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS SEVERE THAN THE EPIC STORM OF LAST WEEK...IT WILL STILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON TRAVEL AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF SNOW...WIND...BLOWING SNOW AND MUCH COLDER AIR.

Just to update everyone:  as we all expected, the electrical power grid failed in Taos.  Our little B&B was without power for over 10 hours in one stretch and then two stretches of about 3 hours.  With 6 fireplaces in the house, we immediately went into "Fireplace" mode and kept the Inn warm during the blackouts.  Kit Carson Electric Co-operative had various excuses for the power failures, but it all boils down to the fact that no community in New Mexico -- not just Taos -- has a power grid capable of handling the heating demands created by a loss of gas heat.  There simply was no way that Taos' system was going to survive unscathed by this huge winter storm.
In the meantime, the Town Officials responsible for keeping order and disseminating information to the public did a smashing job.  When the citizenry began to panic on Thursday, these folks hit the radio airwaves and used the extensive e-mail program they have developed in order to give us factual information that was valid and useful in the immediacy of the developing disaster.

Amazing folks! 

Cathy Connelly, Town of Taos Public Information Director.  Wow, Cathy.  All I can say is I hope you get some paid leave when this blows over.  Have you slept?  I doubt it.

Steve Fuhlendorf, President and CEO of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce.  What can I say to you, Steve other than "Thanks" and "Thanks, again."

It's been remarkable.  On two occasions I communicated with both Cathy and Steve and they both responded immediately to me with facts.  Just the facts.

Thanks to our public officials from Governor Suzanna Martinez all the way down to those working in the trenches here in Taos. 

All will return to normal tomorrow and we're thankful.  Our guests will never know anything happened other than the stories I'll tell them at the breakfast table each morning, but La Posada de Taos will be a warm, comfortable oasis as our Trip Advisor ranking indicates.

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.

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

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.

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)

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.