Accommodations in Orbit

--- In spacesettlers, "Michael Capriola" wrote:

> "Xenophile" made an interesting and well-thought out argument.

Thanks. I hope it was well-thought out. Let's see.

> However, I'm a bit doubtful that a tourist hotel would rent out all
> its rooms to a construction company for years on end. Sort of
> defeats the purpose of the hotel as a resort/tourist trap.

I agree. Only a truly huge hotel would rent out a thousand, or even
five hundred, rooms. Hotels that huge assume a correspondingly huge
construction force in space already. I was assuming hotels having
between five hundred and a thousand suites. So yeah, a hotel would
have to rent out ALL OF THEM to house a one thousand person
workforce. Which is why I suggested spreading it out over ten
hotels. If the workers are two to a suite, and are spread out over
ten hotels, then each hotel is renting out fifty suites to the
workforce. This is enough to provide a bit of buffer against
fluctuations in the tourist trade, but not so much that the tourist
trade has no place to sleep.

> It may depend on how well the hotel is doing.

Yes. The worse the regular trade gets, the more grateful you're
going to be for that constant 10% that stays for years on end.

> Regardless, if the corp's employees are going to be spending years
> working in space, they will want fairly decent housing and
> amenities.

Yes. And the more "fairly decent" you make your facility, the more
the hotel idea makes sense. You do have an interesting idea below
that seems to combine the "dedicated facility" and "workers in
hotels" ideas.

> The corp may not be able to provide it directly, but bonus and
> award systems could provide week-end or week-long stays in an
> orbiting resort with the company picking up basic room and meals
> expenses.

This I hadn't thought of. I did think of providing hotel-based
rewards and incentives, but didn't see the obvious fact that this can
be done whether the workers are actually living out of the hotels or
not. Doing things this way could allow the corp. to get away with a
more spartan housing facility than otherwise, which would save money
(as well as make that weekend in the Orbital Hilton more of a big
deal). Well, Build Big Stuff In Space, Inc. has a lot to think about.

> Mention was made of a support structure. I can eat in my company
> cafeteria, but I also have the option of eating at home or going
> out to one of many restaurants and diners. People will expect the

"Eating at home," of course, is out of the question, unless "home" is
in space. This is the reason (or so we hope) that the big beautiful
habitats will eventually be built.

> same in space if they're going to be there a long time. A 'town'
> will arise where there is a conglomeration of people who need
> services. Same will happen in space. The corp may build extra
> housing and a 'concourse' of some sort, and then rent out the space
> to various merchants and vendors. Some other company may
> build a small habitat nearby and install various entertainment
> facilities.

"Some other company" will, I hope, be Hilton or Carnival (or Ramada
or Princess or Marriott or Celebrity or...).

> A possible analogy is the various towns that grew up around mining
> camps in the American west. People flocked to the area for
> economic reasons ("Thar's gold an' silver in them thar hills"), but
> a second wave of people came to provide general goods stores,
> restaurants, saloons, brothels, blacksmiths, etc.

This is, of course, the standard analogy, and I think that it is a
good one. But there is a big honkin' difference, and that is space
tourism. It is as if, before the first gold miner arrived in
Deadwood, Dakota Territory, there were already a few small hotels
there, catering to tourists who stayed a week for fun. Imagine how
things would've been different in those western mining towns if the
tourists (and the support personnel needed) got there before the
miners! I'm talking Earth orbit, of course. The Deadwood analogy
may be followed more closely in the asteroid belt.

> In short, what I'm saying here is that NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF
> INVENTION.

No argument from me on that.

> People will build what they need, when they need it. (Or after
> they've complained about the lack of it for long enough.)

Good caveat.

> Another point to make. The people who start up and own the support
> structure businesses are the foundation of the community's middle
> class.

Hadn't thought of this. Hhhmmmnnn...... I smell another post coming
up. And it's different than what I had been assuming would be the
case with space hotels.

> They depend on the corporation for their existence, but are outside
> the hierarchal chain of command, unlike the middle management
> professions who have to take orders from corp HQ. This means a
> more diverse community.

Yep. Another post, which will mention McDonald's.

Xenophile (who lacks the skills to be a worker, so wants to go as a
tourist)