We recently took a vacation to Aruba and stayed at Marriott’s Aruba Surf Club, a timeshare, for two weeks. One upside to a global pandemic is aging family members gift their unused timeshare weeks because they are uncomfortable traveling! The Aruba Surf Club suites offer a full kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The suites vary in size but the suite we had slept 4 and had an optional second adjoining room that was locked off because we only reserved for 2 travelers. So our kitchen was furnished for accommodating 6 people.
The timeshare we stayed in is considered a 5-star resort. We had everything we needed during our stay provided. As a vacation rental owner, I pay close attention to the details that others in the industry provide. I only write this blog to give you an idea of what a corporation such as Marriott deems essential. This should give you a good example of the bare minimum to provide to live up to a 5-star resort. In my personal experience, vacation rental owners typically offer more furnishings that make guests feel a home than a hotel chain.
Here are a few photos to give you an idea exactly how they furnished the kitchen:
The dishes they offered were Fiesta brand. The color coordinated nicely with the art and décor in the room. They offered 6 place settings with a dinner plate, dessert plate, and bowl. Additionally they included one serving bowl and one platter.
In the silverware drawer, there were six dinner forks, six salad forks, six teaspoons, six tablespoons, six butter knives, a can opener, a bartender’s wine opener, and a bottle opener. Under the silverware tray were 6 placemats.
The drinking glasses and wine glasses were Libbey brand, and had a ‘duraglass’ marking on the bottom. They also provided a salad bowl with serving spoons.
In addition to glasses, they also provided plastic cups. For food storage containers, there was one small, medium, and large. Honestly, we could have used twice the amount of food storage containers because we cooked a few meals but also wanted a place to store cut fruit and vegetables.
For measuring cups, they included a one cup liquid measuring cup, a two quart glass measuring bowl, and a set of measuring spoons. There was one pyrex casserole dish we could have used in the oven.
The pot set they included had three sizes, one stainless steel skillet, and a non-stick coated skillet.
We had access to a cookie sheet, baking pan that was larger than a 9x13, and a colander.
The available cooking utensils were a spoon, ladle, meat fork, whisk, slotted spoon, and a spatula.
Additional cooking utensils were a grater, pizza cutter, vegetable peeler, wooden spoon, sieve, tongs, rubber spatula, and plastic spatula for the non-stick skillet.
On the counter top, they left two dish towels, 2 wash clothes, and two hot pads. Additionally, a tea kettle was on the stove.
For kitchen electrics, there was a coffee pot, toaster and blender on the counter.
There was a Rubbermaid plastic two quart pitcher and a trivet for hot dishes.
A few things I forgot to get pictures of were the knife block and cutting board that was on the counter. The knife block had four knives for food preparation and eight steak knives. The consumables they left for us were coffee, creamer, sugar, English breakfast tea, chamomile tea, and salt and pepper. Under the sink they left us plenty of dishwasher detergent packets, an extra paper towel roll, trash bags, a sponge, and a small dish soap.
In the bathroom we had six bath towels, six hand towels, six washcloths, and two bath mats because there was a separate shower and bathtub. We had four beach towels in our room and we could exchange them at the pool each day for clean ones. They left us two rolls of toilet paper, two boxes of Kleenex, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and a bar of face soap for each week. We did have to call the front desk for an extra roll of toilet paper, I’m not sure what that says about us. We did not use the shampoo, conditioner, or body wash. If we had used it there would not have been enough for two people for the week. There were days I took a shower after the beach before dinner, and then again after the hot tub before going to bed.
In the laundry room, there were two small boxes of detergent. Additionally, there was an iron, ironing board, broom, dust pan, and carpet sweeper for the low profile carpet in the bedroom.
In the living room, we had a TV and Blu-ray player. Honestly, we never even turned it on.
The closet in the bedroom had wooden hangers, a safe, luggage rack, laundry basket, and additional bedding for the sleeper sofa in the living room.