The Lost Camel Hotel - A member of Mercure Hotels 3.5 stars

I stayed at The Lost Camel in December 2024. While the stay itself was fine, the post-stay experience has been anything but. More than 1.5 months later, I am still waiting for my reward points, despite written confirmation before my stay that they would be credited. Repeated emails to the hotel have gone completely unanswered. Accor’s customer support acknowledged the issue but claims the hotel is unresponsive. The only points I received were for incidental expenses, while the A$1000+ spent on the room remains uncredited. For Accor loyalty members, be warned: If something goes wrong, you may find yourself stuck in an endless loop with no resolution. The hotel’s refusal to engage raises serious concerns about how they treat loyal guests.

I am a 60 bloke and we took the trip of our lives to Uluru Resort this year Jan 2025 While this is my own personal account, which I hope the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation who owns the resort will respect. I know that there marketing Team will attack my post, spouting their own response in a disrespectful manner to try and negate my own experience. I found the stay as discriminatory and isolating I have never experienced such a homophobic and unwelcoming place as Yulara Resort at Uluru. This was a life time adventure where I have travelled and lived across the globe and where I have lived in diverse and different cultures. The indigenous workers in the restaurants are friendly but trying to get a smile or a quick conversation even during quiet times was a task. We were positioned right outside the pool area of the lost camel hotel. Often we received homophobic snarls, inappropriate comments and disapproving looks that as gay folk, we are all well aware of in our travels, work places and when we socialise. The environment was so unpleasant that we used few amenities and hid in our room, with the exception of taking our self’s to Uluru with our own car. It was far too uncomfortable yo use the pool. The resort is known as one of the most expensive places in the planet and while tourists will get a shock at the prices. It’s is price gouging at the highest level. Baring in mind that prices should be more expensive where this is a remote location. The price gouging here was excessive and unwarranted. We live in Darwin so we are akin with disparity in culture, higher prices and social issues. We noticed that some locals would sell art away from the resort. We saw disparity and we saw inequality but we also saw many indigenous employees who were professional but in some cases like robots except when they were laughing and chatting to themselves. The resort is a $200 million plus asset for the owners Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation. I have never felt more isolated, despite trying to get a hello even after a hello first. I had two female friends visit the resort in the last twelve months. They informed us that they had a horrible stay and felt isolated and admitted that this place is one of the worst places they have travelled too. We ignored their opinions thinking that they may have had a bad experience. I’m sorry to say that they were right. The straight couples and families that isolate glare and make uncomfortable comments towards LGBTQI people or aged people near the pool and other ammenities is appalling. It didn’t just happen to us. It happened to our two friends who we referenced above. The reports marketing Team will leap onto this post, in a damage control suggesting that we are wrong. We are not wrong. We payed a fortune for the stay and we spent decent monies at the restaurants etc. It would be disrespectful to manage our experience into a manufactured crafty marketed response, but this is what will happen from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation. It would be putrid and discriminatory for the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation to make such offensive comments or a reply. That’s the problem with this place. A lack of respect for accepting people’s experiences without taking ownership for the problems and instead disrespectfully manufacturing a discriminatory response saying it just didn’t happen. Won’t be back. It’s for straight people and their families. Even on the gay apps. Visitors we deeply closeted here which says a lot about the resort and its bad culture. Take a tip from someone who has never been to Bali. Take a cheap flight to Bali where I hear that you will have a much better experience. It’s so disappointing where Uluru, the rock is one of the most amazing things a person can see and deeply moving. A place of respect where disrespect festers at the resort.

We stayed here last night. Good for a one night stay. Nothing fancy but room clean and comfortable. The bed was good and had a good nights sleep. I used the swimming pool in the evening and that was nice a refreshing. Not bad at all for a one night stay.

We had a 3-night Stay at the Lost Camel in Ayers Rock resort. The hotel is a basic 3* and the 'resort' and 'town centre' are rather grandiose terms for what's on offer! Let's start with the hotel positives: a nice small pool; very close to the several eateries and shops that constitute the 'town' (village square is more accurate); and the room is adequate in terms of size, comfortable large bed, fridge (really important in the intense heat), tea / coffee making facilities (including daily milk provided); shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion; and excellent air con. Although we had a mid-morning arrival, many of us were given access to our room; after a bit of a wait. On the negative side: there is no lift, and residents are expected to carry luggage up a challenging flight of stairs if located on 2nd floor (as we were, but got the nice but reluctant receptionist to sort for us)! The accommodation block and room are more akin to a hostel; with basic shower and toilet; very limited storage space (meaning we didn't unpack!); no complimentary water provided (curious, given the constant high temperature), or information about where to get water (or refill); no eating facilities (guests had to go to neighbouring Sails hotel, enduring a hot walk); and inconsistent room cleaning (full bin not emptied, tea & coffee not replenished)! Finally, the 10am 'check-Out' means a lengthy wait around the lobby area (which becomes quickly crowded, as new arrivals stream in too); not helped by small number of staff on duty and dealing with a lot of people (and only 1 receptionist when we were 'checking-out')!  The village, despite being so small, has a mini-supermarket, coupled with several nice places to eat (with large portions!). But the real highlight of our trip was not the nice (if overrated) sunrise experience at Uluru or seeing the Mata Tjuta National Park; but the fabulous local talks in the resort square, from informative presenters (curiously all male?) and video / movie options (helpfully catering for children and adults).  NB: 1. 'Free' shuttle from airport to the respective hotels (and back)🤗 2. Breakfast at the Sails in the Desert hotel is buffet style and lovely; and praise for Angeline for all her hard work🤗 and Lillie for tasty omelettes / fried eggs🤗 3. The flies are a constant irritant throughout your trip!

We arrived around 11am, and the rooms were not ready. We were able to leave the bags in the lobby and walk 2 minutes to the town center area for coffee. There were a few shops, a restaurant, coffee bar, and an IGA grocery store. It was 2pm by the time our room was ready. The bed was comfortable with new comfortable bedding. The only window was a push out in the bathroom - but we already knew that. Knowing that there was no window in the room, you would think they would have installed adequate lighting. There was no overhead light, just two bedside lights and a light over a small sofa . The WIFI worked well, and there were bedside chargers. There was a small refrigerator. The shower was separated from the toilet, which I like! The room was very clean - I didn’t see any bugsThe pool was nice, but there were no shaded areas to enjoy. Having a free laundry was a huge plus! Transportation within the resort and to/from the airport was excellent and mostly on time. We booked outside tours so we really didn’t participate in much at the resort. The sunrise and sunset “shows” were very expensive, and the reviews for the resort “barbecues “ weren’t great, so we skipped them ( I’m a picky eater - so it’s just not worth it for me). Instead, we had carry out dinner from the Wok. We had so much food left over! The next day we took the shuttle to the outback hotel, which has a communal kitchen , so we could use the microwave to warm our leftovers for lunch. The Outback is the only hotel selling “take away” alcohol , so we bought some beer to go with our lunch. We were glad we weren’t staying there. it’s very bare bones, but the bar looked like it would be fun in the evenings.