Essex County Hotel - Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom 

Myself and my partner booked a night at ths hotel as friends of ours were getting married there. We recieved a discount for being part of the wedding party, the room was just under ?80. On arrival things did not seem so bad, the receptionist was pleasant and we got a room in the main part of the hotel. The room was a bit out of date but it was clean. There was no iron in the rooms which was inconvienient as we were there for the whole day and had to change several times. The main problems started between our friends wedding dinner and the reception. We had around 20 minutes whilst the reception room was prepared so we decided to go back to the room to freshen up. On leaving the room again the door would not lock. After trying for several minutes we went downstairs to tell reception, the lady spoke to us like children and advised us to try again, explaining as if to a toddler, how to lock a door. We went up and tried again, and failed. so we phoned down to the receptionist. She came up 10 minutes later and found that 'SHOCK HORROR' we were not just being stupid, the door really didnt lock!!! She suggested we put our valuables in the safe downstairs, i suggested a room with a locking door but 'apparently' they were fully booked. I explained all my belongings are valuable to me and iwould not leave anything in an unlocked room. She tried to convince me that the hotel was secure with CCTV but what she didnt know was I had arrived and checked in alone and my partner had arrived half hour later, walked in un-noticed and came straight up without being noticed or questioned through the side bar door!! She then sent another staff member up, who had terrible body odour, he could not fix the door, so he then came up with the 'Manager'. They spent a good 20 minutes trying to fix the door, before going away and coming back with a screw driver. They informed us there was no maintenance man and the manager showed my partner a way of shutting the door by lifting the whole door up to meet the lock! I said this was not acceptable, firstly, by this point we should have been an hour into our friends wedding reception, secondly, why should my partner risk injury by lifting a door to lock it. I asked the manager if there was anything he could do for us as our room was not up to standard, i was shocked when he told me 'well you can check out if you like', by this point it was gone 9pm and he knew full well we were with the wedding party. He then said ' we dont do discounts, times are hard'. My response was ' i am not surprised as your customer service is shocking'. Even if he had offered us a free drink at the bar it would have been a goodwill gesture! We then headed down to the reception party as he obviously was not going to pleasant only to discover that the party that was due to start between 7.30 and 8pm (guests were invited for this time) had not yet started (at gone 9pm) as the staff had not prepared the room yet!! Eventually we got into the room and the party started but at nearly ?10 for 2 drinks (small wine and 1 pint) not many people could afford to have a good drink!!! Great wedding due to an amazing couple, friends and family but the hotel could easily have ruined everyones day!!