We appreciate your candor and your very detailed review. We feel like you deserve an equally comprehensive response. We both found you to be a very nice person who really seemed to enjoy our place. As you mentioned in your review you had been to Taos many times and we were flattered that you decided to spend some time at our b&b. Although it was a busy time, it seems like Shantal and you had a long conversation out by our rescue birds and you took many photos.

As for our breakfasts, which you describe as "egg heavy" it seems like an inaccurate comment to make based on only one breakfast eaten here. We do offer many items for breakfast and always accommodate special dietary requests-- hence the question about dietary issues and preferences at the time of booking as well as at check in. I believe we are very good at accommodating varied diets. Over the Christmas holidays alone I had guests who were: diabetic, glucose intolerant, lactose intolerant, and one guest who couldn't eat eggs/fruit with seeds or pits/ or any tree nuts. As for decaf coffee, if guests don't mention it, we don't make it as nobody usually drinks it.

As for a lack of fruit or juice I am at a loss to see why you would say that. In the 4 years my husband and I have operated the inn we have had orange juice and fruit with every single breakfast.

You mentioned that we ask our guests to stipulate a breakfast time before the actual breakfast. This is correct and the reason we do this is so we can make more interesting food dishes (as opposed to the standard pancakes and scrambled eggs). I recall the morning you showed up approximately 20 minutes before the 8 o'clock breakfast because I had coddled eggs with goat cheese in the oven (a dish which takes 40 minutes to prepare and which it sounds like you would not have liked, in any case). I only made enough for the first breakfast seating, as you had come to the second breakfast the morning before. Based on that I anticipated you would do so again.

I didn't offer an impromptu breakfast at that time because I was working on providing the breakfast people had requested. As it is just my husband and myself working here it is difficult to operate as a short-order kitchen. If you had actually asked me for some toast/extra fruit/granola/ et cetera and had waited a few minutes until my breakfast was on the table I would have been glad to fix you up.

According to your husband, who cancelled the reservation with me, the real reason you felt compelled to leave 2 days before your stay was over was due to the incident the evening before you left. As you may recall, you invited a couple of your friends over to our b&b to hang out in your room. They arrived with musical instruments and a dog, which they left in their car after we told them the room you had rented was not a pet room.

I was cordial when your friend came down to the kitchen and asked for a bread knife to unlock his jammed/locked car door. At that point I was already growing anxious about the noise level coming out of your room as your music and singing were quite loud, but I didn't mention anything.

However, when guests beneath you and guests to the north of your room contacted me to ask about the noise level I felt like I had to intervene. I spoke to you when I knocked on the door of your room and you were extremely understanding and told me it was no problem to take the party someplace else. I was grateful for your understanding.

After the breakfast I mentioned above your husband came down to the dining area later that morning and seemed very agitated. As per your instructions your booking here was to be split between two rooms as we were full and didn't have the same room for all 4 nights. When I approached him to let him know the other room was already ready for him and that we would move his stuff for him he told me he wanted to leave. I asked him what the problem was and he said he couldn't stay in a place where he wasn't allowed to play his musical instruments. I told him the room he was moving to was not in the center of the house but more private and at the end of the wing. He said he didn't want to stay because he didn't feel comfortable here anymore.

At that point I cancelled the booking without any charge to you in spite of the fact that it left me with an empty room on the busiest week of the year. It was too late to re-book the room and we lost that income.

The interaction with your husband was extremely uncomfortable because your husband was clearly upset and I had 6 guests sitting and chatting in the adjacent room, who didn't need to hear about it on their holiday. Two of the guests later told me that he sought them out at breakfast to specifically tell them that he was unhappy here and leaving. Luckily they were 3rd time repeat guests and not turned off by the interaction.

I really appreciate the time you took to review our b&b. I am grateful for the nice things you noticed and sorry that you found some of our policies inflexible. There are many great places to stay in Taos and I'm confident you will find one that will fit your needs.