Horizon Hotel Apartments - Close to Beach, Train Station & Southend Airport

When we arrived around 5:30pm to check in, we were told by a female member of staff (Ali) that our room should have been cancelled and that the whole ground floor had no hot water. She said she had asked the owner to contact us at 9am that morning. The frustrating thing is that I spoke to the owner at 11am that same day to enquire about parking, he did not think to mention that our booking had been cancelled and that we wouldn't be able to stay! The owner would not answer Ali's calls, she said she tried 9 times. I also tried and he did not answer. We were also told that she wouldn't be able to process a refund that day either. So we were left on their doorstep with 2 young disappointed children who were so looking forward to their hotel stay. After Ali realised we weren't going to be fobbed off easily and were not leaving without a refund, she miraculously pulls out £216, apparently of her own personal cash, to refund us. It was a blessing in disguise as the hotel looked run down and the owner did not care about his customers. Having looked at other reviews, guests have mentioned 'scammers', '**********' and having their belongings stolen! This place needs to be shut down! This sudden cancellation also meant that we spent a long time looking for an alternative hotel to stay at and we missed our dinner booking at a restaurant to celebrate my sister's birthday. We found a room at a lovely Holiday Inn, but ended up spending an extra £50 on this. Awful experience.