You can now reserve a room in the first hotel on the moon - for a $1 million deposit

From longevity retreats to runcations, nothing is off-limits anymore when it comes to planning a holiday - including travelling to another planet.

A California-based startup has just announced that reservations are open for the first ever hotel on the Moon, which they anticipate will have its doors open in 2032.

GRU was founded by 22-year-old Berkeley graduate and space obsessive, Skyler Chan, who already has a pretty impressive resume, which includes creating written software for Tesla, and helping send a NASA-backed 3D printer into space.

His next venture? Taking our existing knowledge of the moon and creating the birthplace of a new, human society away from Earth - and the hotel is merely the starting point.

GRU

"We live during an inflection point where we can actually become interplanetary before we die," Chan said in the statement announcing the hotel concept. "If we succeed, billions of human lives will be born on the moon and Mars and be able to experience the beauty of lunar and martian life."

Given that there's only ever been 12 people walk on the Moon, the idea may sound far-fetched, but in a recent white paper, the company vows to "outflank the entire space industry by rejecting the industry's resilience on slow-moving government timelines."

Announcing the timeline of their journey in 'missions', GRU say the first will be in 2029, where they'll carry out a lunar systems test, pending regulatory approval.

"A pressurized test payload is placed on the lunar surface to evaluate controlled environmental conditions, alongside early construction experiments using locally sourced materials. Together, these tests reduce risk ahead of larger, more complex missions", their website reads.

By 2031, they hope to have built a lunar cave base, where they'll deploy an inflatable system for testing, and "further construction tests begin, preparing the way for building at scale."

The following year, 2032, GRU wants to open its hotel's doors. They say the inflatable structure will be built on Earth and delivered by a heavy lander, capable of hosting four guests for multiple days at a time.

GRU

They claim it'll have a lifespan of 10 years, offering "views of the lunar landscape and Earth", as well as once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as moonwalking, driving, and golfing.

In the long-term, they also anticipate being able to create 'America's first moon base', including roads, warehouses, and other practical infrastructure.

They've got some pretty big backing too, with Y Combinator and NVIDIA on board, alongside investors from SpaceX and Anduril.

Now, of course, space travel doesn't come cheap, and while reservations are now open for GRU's hotel, you'll need to jump through hoops to get there first.

The brand requires those interested to pay a $1,000 (£773) non-refundable application fee and provide (personal, medical, and financial) documentation - if approved, you'll then be prompted to cough up the $250,000-$1,000,000 refundable reservation fee for your otherworldly stay.

While final pricing of the trip hasn't been confirmed, they anticipate it'll exceed $10 million.

The concept has welcomed mixed reviews so far.

"Can we fix the Earth first?", one person asked, while another noted, "We've heard this tale so many times".

A third pointed out that a 'night' on the moon isn't the same length of time as a 'night' on Earth.

This could either be the best or worst outcome of all time - watch this space.

Why not read...

How ‘runcations’ have become the most divisive travel trend yet

I spent a week at the world’s most exclusive longevity retreat loved by A-listers

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter