Book a hotel room on the Moon for just $250k: This space company says bookings are already open

Living on the Moon has often been associated with long-term planning documents or speculative films, rather with booking forms. That line may now be thinning. Gru Space, a private corporation, says it is developing the first hotel on the moon's surface and has begun accepting early reservations. The idea combines commercial spaceflight, inflatable habitat design, and long-term plans for human activities beyond Earth. While the timetable is undetermined and the technological obstacles are significant, the move represents a shift in the way the Moon is regarded. Less a symbol and more a destination. For the time being, the concept exists solely on paper, in renderings and deposit agreements. However, its supporters believe that it will be available within a decade.Interested applicants must first pay a $1k non-refundable application fee. If selected, they are invited to enter a deposit agreement. Deposit options include $250K or $1 million.Deposits can be refunded after the first thirty days, according to the company’s terms. Once the hotel is ready to accept guests, the deposit will be applied to the final price. Gru Space notes that additional verification steps will be required to confirm a guest’s ability to travel safely. Gru Space presents itself as a private space company focused on long-duration lunar infrastructure. Its most public proposal is a small hotel designed to sit on the Moon’s surface and host paying guests. The company says it is accepting reservations starting at one million dollars, with alternative deposit options available.The reservation does not guarantee a flight date. Instead, it signals interest and helps fund development. Final prices are expected to exceed ten million dollars per guest, though no fixed figure has been published. Applicants are told they may need to provide medical, personal and financial documentation later in the process. Interest in the Moon has grown steadily over the past decade. National space agencies have returned to lunar planning, and private launch providers have reduced payload costs. This has opened space for ideas that once seemed unrealistic, including commercial stays beyond Earth orbit.A lunar hotel fits into a broader pattern. Not only tourism, but also research, resource testing and long-term habitation are often mentioned alongside it. Gru Space frames its project as part of this wider shift, not as a standalone luxury concept.According to the GRU’s published roadmap, the hotel would rely on inflatable habitat technology. These structures are launched compact and expanded after landing. They are lighter than rigid modules and easier to transport.The initial hotel is planned to host up to four guests at a time. It would be delivered fully built from Earth using a heavy lander and then deployed on the lunar surface. The design life is expected to be around ten years.Views of the lunar landscape and Earth are highlighted, along with proposed surface activities such as guided moonwalks, driving experiments and recreational demonstrations like golfing. These experiences remain conceptual at this stage.Gru Space outlines several test missions before any hotel opens. The first, planned for 2029, involves a pressurised test payload placed on the Moon. This would be used to assess environmental control and early construction methods, including experiments with local lunar materials.A second mission in 2031 focuses on a lunar cave base. The payload would land near a natural pit, chosen for radiation protection and temperature stability. An inflatable system would be deployed inside, allowing further testing of habitation at a larger scale.Only after these steps does the company propose delivering the first hotel, currently targeted for 2032.Beyond the first hotel, the company describes future missions aimed at scaling up construction on the Moon. These would use ISRU systems, meaning in situ resource utilisation, and robotic equipment to build structures from lunar material.The plan suggests expanding capacity from four guests to ten and extending operational life. Over time, this could support a more permanent presence, with modular habitats protected by locally built enclosures.Gru Space also links this work to longer-term ambitions for Mars, though those ideas remain distant. For now, the lunar hotel sits somewhere between experiment and promise, watched closely by an industry still deciding how humans might actually live beyond Earth.