Startup Opens Moon Hotel Reservations for 2032 Stays

Imagine checking into a hotel where Earth hangs in the sky outside your window. GRU Space just opened reservations for the first Moon hotel, with stays planned to begin in 2032.

The startup, founded by recent UC Berkeley graduate Skyler Chan, is asking for deposits between $250,000 and $1 million to secure a spot. Yes, it sounds wild. But the company has seed funding from Y Combinator and a surprisingly detailed roadmap.

GRU Space plans to send an inflatable test structure to the Moon in 2029. That first mission will construct bricks from lunar dust for future buildings while testing whether the habitat can support human life.

Two years later, in 2031, a larger human habitation pod will land in a lunar pit. These natural craters shield visitors from dangerous cosmic radiation, making them perfect spots for Moon hotels.

By 2032, the hotel will accommodate four guests at a time for multi-day stays. The company envisions this as just the beginning of a larger Moon base and colony infrastructure.

Chan draws inspiration from the Hudson Bay Company, which helped settle Canadian wilderness in the 1670s. GRU Space aims to be the modern version, building the foundations for lunar civilization.

The hotel design resembles San Francisco's Palace of the Fine Arts, which might seem outrageous for the Moon. But Chan explains the vision simply: "SpaceX is building the FedEx to get us there, right? But there has to be a destination worthy to stay in."

Why This Inspires

This story represents more than expensive tourism. Every great human achievement started with someone willing to dream impossibly big and take the first practical steps.

Chan graduated college just last year, yet he's already secured funding and created detailed engineering plans. His timeline includes testing inflatable structures, developing construction methods using lunar materials, and solving radiation protection.

Sure, GRU Space currently has only two full-time employees. But SpaceX started in a warehouse, and now it regularly launches astronauts to space.

The company isn't just building a hotel. They're developing the technology and infrastructure that could make humanity a multi-planetary species, starting with turning Moon dust into building materials.

Whether GRU Space succeeds or not, they're pushing the boundaries of what's possible. They're proving that the next generation refuses to accept Earth as our only home.

The Moon hotel might sound like science fiction, but so did reusable rockets until SpaceX made them routine. Sometimes the most inspiring progress starts with someone young enough to believe the impossible is just difficult.