A Californian start-up wants $1m to hold your room on the Moon. We checked the small print, and packed accordingly.
In an age of overtourism, when Venice charges day-trippers at the door and Santorini’s sunsets come with elbows, one company has found a destination with no crowds, no queues and, crucially, no hotel yet.
Galactic Resource Utilization Space, or GRU Space, is a San Francisco start-up that says it is building the world’s first hotel on the Moon. It is already taking reservations.
Would-be guests pay a non-refundable $1,000 application fee. If selected, they can place a refundable deposit of either $250,000 or $1m. Final pricing has not been set, but GRU Space says a stay will likely exceed $10m.
The plan comes in stages. In 2029, GRU aims to send a 10kg payload on a commercial lunar lander to test an inflatable structure and a way of turning lunar soil into “Moon bricks”.
A second mission in 2031 would place a larger test structure inside a lunar pit, a natural cave chosen for its shelter from radiation and temperature extremes.
The first hotel would follow in 2032: an inflatable structure built on Earth and landed on the Moon, hosting up to four guests for multi-day stays over a planned ten-year lifespan.
Planned activities include moonwalks, driving and golf. A later, larger version built from lunar material would hold up to ten guests and is to be styled on San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts.
The company was founded in 2025 by Skyler Chan, a recent Berkeley graduate who previously worked on vehicle software at Tesla. It is backed by Y Combinator and part of Nvidia’s start-up programme.
In March, the Canadian investment firm Planet Ventures announced a $100,000 investment. Chan sees tourism as the missing link in space development. In his words, SpaceX is building the FedEx to get us there, but there has to be a destination.
Sceptics note that in late December, according to Ars Technica, GRU had one full-time employee besides Chan himself. The company, for its part, points to its whitepaper.
Planning your trip: a practical guide
When to go. Early booking is strongly advised: the first hotel has four beds and a 2032 launch window. School holidays are best avoided, as are years when the rocket is not ready.
Getting there. The Moon is about 384,000km away, which rules out the Eurostar. GRU’s own whitepaper says even the first hotel will need a Starship-sized vehicle to get there. Be warned that the headline price reportedly covers the hotel only: transport, via a launch provider such as SpaceX or Blue Origin, adds several million more. This is the first holiday in history where the flight costs more than a house and is still classed as an add-on.
Budget. One local report put the price for the first hotel’s average five-night stay at around $416,667 per person per night. Seasoned travellers will recognise the trick: once you’ve paid for the rocket, the minibar feels reasonable.
Packing. Leave the swimwear. A lunar day lasts about two Earth weeks, with surface temperatures swinging from well above boiling point to far below freezing. The hand-luggage liquids rule will feel quaint in a place with no atmosphere at all. Apollo astronauts reported that lunar dust clings to everything and is abrasive, so avoid bringing the good linen.
Activities. Golf is on the itinerary, and there is precedent: Alan Shepard hit two golf balls on the Moon during Apollo 14 in 1971. With one-sixth of Earth’s gravity, even the most mediocre executive can expect personal-best drives. Caddies are not yet confirmed.
The view. Unbeatable, with Earth hanging in a black sky. Guests who find the sight of their home planet uncomfortably reminiscent of their inbox may request a room facing the other way, although with four guests, requests are limited.
Reviews. There are none yet. The hotel doesn’t exist, which puts it, for once, ahead of several properties with glowing reviews.
Cancellation policy. Surprisingly generous. According to GRU’s reservation terms, you can request a full refund of your deposit at any time after the first 30 days. Few Earth-based holiday bookings offer as much, although few Earth-based hotels are still waiting for their foundations to be invented.
Getting home. Advisable.
Verdict
For now, the world’s most exclusive hotel is a whitepaper, a website, a waiting list and a rendering. That doesn’t make it a joke: space tourism was once a punchline too, and the investors are real.
But for your next vacation, there’s still something to be said for a regular city break. It has gravity, oxygen and, crucially, rooms.