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By 2032, the first hotel may be on the Moon.
A US-based space start-up called Galactic Resource Utilization Space (GRU Space) has started taking booking requests for what it claims would be “the first ever permanent off-Earth structure built in history”.
The company says selected applicants will be asked to place a deposit of either $250,000 (about €210,000) or $1 million (about €850,000), depending on the experience they choose.
It said final pricing has not yet been set but it is expected to exceed $10 million (about €8.5 million) per stay.
Guests applying to book the hotel must also pay a $1,000 (about €850) non-refundable application fee to be considered.
Company documents show that an inflatable structure will be built on Earth and launched to the Moon, where it would then be expanded on the lunar surface.
GRU Space said the hotel could house up to four guests. It estimates the structure to have a lifetime of ten years and the total payload to send the necessary equipment to be about 9,070 kilograms.
Initial testing on the Moon is pencilled in for 2031, a year before the first stays could take place.
For now, the idea exists largely on paper. No such structure has ever been assembled on the Moon, and long-term human habitation there remains unproven.
Despite this, the company is already marketing the experience to rich tourists, repeat space travellers and couples looking for an extraordinary honeymoon.
It has also announced plans to gradually expand the site into a permanent lunar hotel for up to 10 guests and build a similar hotel on Mars.
The announcement comes amid US President Trump’s pledge to plant a flag on Mars by 2028 and tech billionaires are pushing private involvement beyond low Earth orbit.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has backed Orbital Reef, a proposed space station intended to orbit Earth in a similar fashion to the International Space Station but with an emphasis on tourism, research and commercial use.
And another American aerospace company called Above: Space Development has also been vying to open what it calls the world’s first space hotel as early as 2027.
The planned Voyager Station would include living quarters, gyms, restaurants, and research facilities, with room for up to 440 people.