Chalets spread out over the desert - nice idea but poorly signposted. We had a wonderful outlook over the bush. Room OK but no way of turning off sound of bathroom airconditioning. Lights over bed designed to shine into your eyes, avoiding your book.
Expensive restaurant with no alternative, not even bar meals - disgraceful, especially as there is only one, packed, albeit pretty good, cafe in the Resort Village - book early!

We stayed at the Desert Gardens for 2 nights as part of our AAT Kings Red Centre trip.

The accommodation was good. Our room was smart and clean with a terrace to the rear (not that we ever felt like sun-bathing).

Check-in can be a bit fraught with too many buses arriving at the same time. Our bus arrived at 11.30am and, understandably, our rooms weren't ready which led to a bottleneck in reception. My advice would be to go to the Gecko and grab an early lunch.

The hotel restaurant was expensive and the food was of a poor quality - most of it deep fried. We had a BBQ on the 1st night as part of our tour, which was very good. The following day we ate at the Gecko restaurant, which was much better - less fried food, more pastas, salads etc.

Do not expect the Ritz! This place is simply designed as a launch pad for Uluru and, in most cases, it does the job very well.

This trip was amazing - please, please don't worry about some of the negative reviews! All the hotels are in one big complex, and the hotels and restaurants cater to a wide range of travellers. We stayed in the Lost Camel part of the Resort. The rooms are cool, clean and spacious. A hotel room for this price in Perth, Melbourne or Sydney is not this nice. The resort is quite spread out and we were lucky enough to be near the pool - request this. There are pools for each hotel and you can go to any restaurants. The roads are quite twisty, but you can walk from Sails through Lost Camel to Desert Sands in under 10 minutes by cutting through the grounds. There are also regular shuttles. Coming from Sydney, we were pleasantly surprised by the exceptional quality of the food, particularly in the "middle range" restaurants - dinner at the desert sands restaurant was really wonderful, 5 stars. Compared to Sydney, food was cheap, which is quite a feat considering how far produce comes. All was fresh and really top quality. Alcohol was what you'd expect to pay in a cafe in Sydney. There is a neat little grocery store at the resort. The staff were friendly and helpful and delat with with a huge range of international travellers. We went on the dawn camel ride, which was really fun, the silence under the stars dinner (a must, but grasshoppers jumping everywhere!) and a walk around the rock. I would recommend this to everyone, and I don't understand why there are so many bad reviews of this place. The only thing I can think of is that people expect it to cost the same as staying in a coastal town, with those sort of amenities - its a desert people!

Stayed at Desert Gardens for 3 nights as part of our honeymoon. I would normally check the reviews on TripAdvisor before booking but didn't with this one, which was just as well as I think I would have been put off Desert Gardens by some of the previous comments!
We booked a deluxe room which was kitted out very nicely; clean, comfortable and exceeded my expectations for the middle of the road hotel within the Voyages Resort complex. Massive bed, sofa, table and chairs, plenty of space and a bathroom to die for (with a bath, shower, nice toiletries and plenty fluffy towels). We also were lucky enough to have a blacony view of Uluru which was great and unspoilt.
We used the hotel restuarant just once for breakfast which wasn't included in the price of our accommodation - it was a little on the pricey side for my liking (about $60 for the two of us), particularly if you don't eat a large breakfast. It's buffet stye, hot and cold, a wide selection and food quality was good. For evening meals we chose Gecko's cafe in the little town centre on the resort complex which is about a five minute walk from the hotel. Offers a relatively small menu, but well priced and a relaxed, friendly atmosphere We ate there three times and each time the quality of food and service was excellent. Also in the town centre, there would normally be a takeaway which was closed for renovation during our stay, and there's also a handy supermarket along with a couple of gift shops and a post office.
It is correct on previous reviews that Voyages hold the monopoly on Uluru accommodation. We felt very confined to the resort without our own transport and that for me was the downside, but you can't blame that on the hotels. If we did it again, we'd probably hire a camper van and drive from Alice Spings to make a proper trip of it. And we'd only stop 2 nights, 3 was a little too long - you could combine it with a trip to Kings Canyon that way.
We booked a couple of trips using the Visitor Information Centre (definitely worth paying them a visit), they're a short walk from the hotel, just at the top of the steps aside from the front of the building.
Overall, our experience of the Desert Gardens was very pleasant and worth the money.