Desert Gardens - A member of Novotel Hotels 4.5 نجوم

Things I should have known before I came here: We all know the nature experiences are world class. Transportation is bus only and is very reliable and comfortable but that is it. There is nothing else. Screams the need for e-bikes or segways. So you can get around the resort because let me tell you, it is huge! If you can’t eat the food in the restaurant because of diet, ill health, bad luck, you are going to starve. There is an IGA store that is stocked once a week. What it has is very good but being a million miles from everywhere, expect fresh items to run out very fast. Definitely pack and bring cutlery and crockery as there are none supplied in your room. The only takeaway cafe is in the town centre and you will freeze walking it back to your room in winter and melt in summer. This place screams out for an Uber service but so far only one cafe doing takeaway of a very limited menu mainly Italian. Now this resort does have a restaurant and bar/bistro. They are the one and the same and if $72 is okay for a tiny steak, fill your boots. My wife became ill and could not get to the restaurant. I saw soup on the menu so thought I would ask to take some to her. Flat no was the response. Spoke to reception- sorry not my problem was the attitude. I explained and pleaded but was told to buy a tin of soup at IGA. Apparently it was a WHS decision. Really?! So ten minute walk in the dark and I do mean dark. Very unsettling. Purchase soup. Go to cafe and order a pizza for me. 45 minutes later and a piping hot pizza. Ten minute walk to reception because they had agreed to see chef and borrow a plate and spoon for the soup. Then a map was provided and a thirty minute search commenced to find a room with a microwave at the other end of the hotel. Failed. Back to reception for more help. Pizza stone cold. Receptionist agreed to show me the room. Turns out it was a laundry. That would have been handy to know. Heat the soup now how to carry eat accross the resort to our upstairs room on top of my pizza and groceries. No way to heat the pizza. I was not chasing another borrowed plate. Made it. The trip to get a bowl of tinned souple for my ill wife - 2hrs. I kid you not. No room service, no takeaway except from town, no transportation other than the shuttle that comes by every fifteen minutes. Now the room. Bring a step ladder if you want to get in the tallest bath in Australia. Bring your own safety rails and slip mats. None provided. Fortunately you can get a cup of tea as two teabags are provided. I have only been hear 24hrs so no idea if the room will be serviced. Check in is at 3pm and there were cleaners on the floor a few hours ago but we can step around the accumulating rubbish. Don’t trip on the whole in the tub either. No lifts so pack light for the steps. Porters extremely helpful but clearly advice that room service was available was less than accurate. He was still insisting the hotel has a cafe but reception confirmed they did not. All in all, food is your real issue. The expensive restaurants are empty and the one better priced cafe is full to overflowing. It is extremely challenging to find food as it runs out very quickly. Once you find some, it is not too bad but this is no 5 star qulity resort. My guess is 3 stars but it will drop quickly. Ps. For those who say but you are in the outback….. you are right. If it runs out, that’s life. But if you are serving it and refuse to serve to a high paying client, that isn’t the outback. That is extremely poor leadership and supervision. Contingency planning is non-exi

Comfortable room, spacious, comfy bed and decent shower. Could do with a makeover considering the price. The resort in general is very overpriced especially for food. The experience is all about the scenery and once in the life trip but the resort has a captive audience and it's all about making money, such a shame.

Service - I’d give 1 of 5 stars. 4 of 5 for rooms (expensive for what is provided). The uluru view room is nice and has lots of good natural light. The 2nd room with our booking was dark with little natural light and a close up view of a wall and small garden area. The hotel only provided 2 coffee capsules for a 5 night stay and only for 1 of 2 rooms. Other coffee was nasty-brand instant. I had to make 5 requests to have any hand soap or body wash. Both containers were empty when we checked in. So, morningafter we checked in I asked housekeeping. No luck. Next day I went to reception where they wrote it down. Nothing happened. Asked housekeeping that afternoon. Not fixed. Then we also found out that our bath leaked into the room below and were told not to use the bath for the remaining 3 days of our stay. Next day they didn’t service the room, so I rang and they came to take care of it. Then I asked when they came (4th time). No luck. Then on the 4th day I went to reception who said they’d tell housekeeping. I insisted, given this was the 5th time that they just give me some. They had heaps under the counter - no reason they couldn’t have fixed it before!!! It is a dusty destination, which is part of the charm of the scenery, but that means it’s really important to be able to get clean!! Uluru and the National park, 5 stars.

hotel, not very pleasant, dingy, very poor service, rooms poorly cleaned, e.g. unmade beds, poor service in the restaurant, we asked for a glass of water, they brought a bottle and charged us 12 dollars, read the restaurant's reservation regulations carefully because non-cancellation costs 50 dollars per person, but to find out you have to delve into the regulations, it is not clearly communicated and later when checking out the lady says with a smile that for 2 people 100 dollars please because you did not cancel the reservation, and we were sitting 20 meters away in the other restaurant

Our stay at Desert Gardens was enjoyable, the room was large, clean and well appointed. We had an upstairs garden view room (no lift access but this was not an issue with our minimal luggage). There was plenty of space to spread out, the bed was comfortable. Air con helped keep the temp comfortable as the nights and early mornings were chilly. The resort as a whole was good with various options for food. The local supermarket was well stocked however prices were high. We ate at the Desert Gardens Mangata resturant once during our 4 night stay and the food options were varied and food delicious. Tap water was drinkable however we did purchase this from the store. Having hired a car we spent most of our time away from the resort exploring Uluru and Kata Tjuta. This gave us independance rather than relying on tours and the Hop on Hop off bus. All team members we interacted with were helpful and friendly. We saw many people with head nets to keep the flies off, we never found them to be a major problem, keeping them at bay with an occassional flick of the hand.