Recently, a friend alerted me that the Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau has announced it has launched a redesigned Web site.
According to the news release:
The Albuquerque CVB website integrates several exciting technologies available on the Web today including RSS feeds, PDA Mobile content, online video integration and extensive behind-the-scene content management tools that enable the staff to make quick changes. Many new features have been added to the site to improve the visitor trip planning experience as well as the usability and functionality of the site […]
Having surfed it, I can attest it is an improvement to ABQ’s previous tourism site. There’s a few things about it that bug me (such as the audio files that load automatically; there’s a reason YouTube videos don’t run unless you click the “play” button).
Route 66 isn’t featured on the site’s main page. But at least you can find it when you float your cursor over the “Uniquely Albuquerque” part of the menu. The Route 66 page of the site is here. The history page is compact and colorful. It also contains a perfunctory Route 66 Tour page, including a self-guided tour map (Acrobat file) that’s not well-detailed and leaves out east Albuquerque for some reason.
But where the site falls down on its job somewhat is in the dining and lodging portions.
Looking for barbecue restaurants on the Duke City’s Mother Road, I fully expected to see Mr. Powdrell’s terrific restaurant prominently displayed. But it’s not there at all. I couldn’t find the landmark Frontier in the restaurant listings, either. Nor the Route 66 Malt Shop. No Model Pharmacy. No Lindy’s Coffee Shop. That’s some seriously good eatin’ that tourists would potentially miss.
The lodging listings are somewhat better. The site contains scads of chain motels, but leaves out a few mom-and-pop motels along 66, such as the well-regarded El Don Motel. But at least The Hotel Blue, Monterey Non-Smokers Motel and Silver Moon Lodge made the cut.