SpaQuest
, an online reservations system for spa vacations, introduced a travel agent partnership program offering increased commission and other perks to help broaden agents` business.

Under the program, travel agencies that become Preferred Agencies are provided a link from their own Web sites to SpaQuest`s reservations department, offering 24-hour real-time reservations capabilities.

The link is free to all agencies and maintains the individual agency`s logo and contact information at all times. For agency sites requiring customized links with navigational capabilities, there is a one-time charge of $39.

The link has been offered to agencies since spring 2001.

SpaQuest wanted to help agencies market spas more aggressively, according to Sharon Ulrich, vice president of partnerships, and devised the second level of the partnership program: Select Agency.

Those agencies with Select status receive the Spafanatic newsletter once a month, which can then be sent out to the agency`s own database.

Every link within the newsletter retains the agency`s code, so that when clients have questions, the agency is contacted and when bookings are made, the agency is credited.

The opening page of the newsletter can be customized by the individual agency for a personal message to its database, for promoting special deals, for instance, Ulrich noted.

Select status is priced at $99 per year or $14.95 for individual issues of Spafanatic.

All bookings made via the link to SpaQuest`s reservations department, either from the agency`s site or the newsletter, pay 11% commission to agents.

SpaQuest pays 10% commission to agencies not participating in the partnership program.

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