12 Residence Cotroceni

I left early the next morning because I felt intimidated and uncomfortable. The problem was that the landlord told me over the phone on arrival that the apartment's front door must never be locked, a rule I hadn't known about before. I had a room key and a proper key for the apartment door, but was told I couldn't use the latter. I didn't feel safe spending the night with the front door unlocked. The landlord said there had been no thefts in past years and that there was video surveillance, but that didn't reassure me that nothing could happen, especially overnight. It seemed the door was kept unlocked so the key to the other rooms could stay in the lock, avoiding the need to be available at arrival or offer another way to get a room key. I don't think locking individual rooms makes an unlocked apartment entrance reasonable. My room's bathroom was across the hall, and I also worried that a non-guest could get into that shared space at night. Coming out and encountering an intruder could have serious consequences for the guest and the owner, especially if the person's intentions weren't benign. Apparently another guest couldn't enter after midnight because the door had been locked. I don't think it was reasonable to expect a guest to open the door to a stranger at that hour, though. The situation could have been avoided with a secure place outside the apartment to collect keys. If the apartment key isn't meant to be used, why include it with the room key? The whole thing left a very sour taste.