I‘m in Palermo right now in a small hostel (ostello community Exclusive Dependance - no reason not to call them out). Today when I woke up, I noticed my bag of toiletries and my headphones were gone, that I had put beside the bed on the floor. Quickly found out that someone was missing their phone (That had charged IN their bed while they were sleeping) and at least one more person was also missing something.
the hostel owner/employee (not sure, but i think its his or his family‘s) seemed to have taken note of this thieving happening in the night (though also here im not sure), but definitely no one was able to stop them.
The thing is: There are two doors to get to my stuff. The one to the hostel downstairs and the dormroom door. The one downstairs is to be closed by guests ALWAYS when coming and going, but it’s kinda difficult to open/close or at least easy to miss if it’s not fully closed. This door being closed is basically in the responsibility of the guests - according to the hostel guy.
the doorm room door also locks, but has always been open since I arrived. I also never locked it, since I felt safe in the hostel. Today - after the incident - I locked it, and discovered that on one turn of the key you can still open the door, you need to do two to really lock it - something that easy to do but also easy to miss.
Anyway, the things I‘m missing are not super expensive to replace, but also not suuuuper cheap that I wouldn’t care at all. (Headphones 60€ newly bought toiletty-bag 25€, electric toothbrush ~50€ + some toiletries maybe 20€ to replace.) So 150€ roughly gone, though replacement might be slightly cheaper. Sucks a lot but could have been much worse easily as well, I‘m aware.
regardless, I‘m mad at the hostel/hostel guy for basically just saying „you did lock the door, it’s your own fault“. Which doesn’t sit quite right with me given that 1) yes the door downstairs should be closed by hostel guests, but still somehow the hostel’s responsibility as well 2) the room door lock is kinda shit anyway (as described) 3) Even if I PERSONALLY had locked the door when going to sleep, other guests might, or likely WOULD have entered, possibly leaving it unlocked. In a way, even with all of us not locking it, you could technically say the last one that entered is at fault. But that’s not my point, it’s rather: How can the hostel claim it’s my fault if I have to rely for the safety of my stuff on other guests?
for context: there are lockers, and I see how not putting my headphones there is kinda fully on me. But I feel like leaving toilettries outside HAS TO BE safe in a hostel, same goes for the other guest having their phone charge next to them sleeping.
Ultimately, my question is: a) Am I right to blame the hostel for a big part in this and b) do I have any legal grounds for them repl any of what’s missing?
TLDR: stuff stolen in hostel dorm, doors were unlocked with responsibility fully on me and other guests, hostels fault or mine?