We are part of a group tour through our parish in Brecksville Ohio booked though NAWAS which was to primarily tour Oberammergau and the Passion Play in September 2020 with our parish pastor who is retiring in 2020.
Oberammergau cancelled the play until 2022 due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic which made it improbable for most travelers to rebook the tour with NAWAS. Since NAWAS was unable to fulfill their contractual obligation regarding the Oberammergau portion they offered several options all of which were undesirable and improbable due to age of participants; timing; but most of all the cost of cancellation.
Deposits for this trip began almost two years ago, beginning in July 2018. As of the cancellation of Oberammergau, NAWAS had use of our monies, which was about half of the total cost of the tour, without interest to us. Their penalty for cancellation is 58% of this deposit amount which is deemed to be extreme, unchristian, unconscionable and gouging in view of worldwide pandemic and what other reputable companies are doing.
We, Ken & Georgia Maresh personally, have had two other trips cancelled on us due to the coronavirus scare with total refund. Through no fault of tour customers who contracted with NAWAS in good faith, we are receiving nothing in return for, in our case, an expense of $2300.00.
In view of other reputable travel companies who are refunding 100% of costs paid, and in consideration of the situation worldwide, we would like NAWAS to revise their cancellation penalty to either the same consideration of other travel companies (100% refund) or a more logical amount. We suggest if they must charge a fee, a figure more like what was offered for earlier cancellations of $500 per person.