Well, it took me long enough.

In my post of February 4th, 2005, I said that I would be making a
post that is different that what I'd been assuming about space
hotels, and that the post would mention McDonald's.

Well, here it is. Mention was made that the support businesses
(saloons, general stores, brothels, and mining supply stores, for Old
West frontier towns) were the basis of the middle class. It was also
pointed out that, even though these businesses (or the orbital
equivalents) are dependent on the Big Corp. for their very existence,
they are not a part of the "chain of command," as it were. They have
a touch of independence.

As applied to space hotels (and I know it was being applied to the
community of builders, not the hotels), this is a LOT different than
what I had in mind, and is in fact BETTTER than what I had in mind.
You see, I had assumed that the health clubs, restaurants, movie
theatres, etc. in an orbital resort would be owned by whoever owned
the resort itself. If the resort was a joint project of Ramada
Hotels and Celebrity Cruise Lines, then Ramabrity Celebmada
whatever. Then R/C would own said restaurants, theatres, etc. But
perhaps this isn't the best way.

Perhaps it would be better if R/C owned the resort structure itself,
and let Cinemark Theatres or Carmike Cinemas take care of the places
movies are shown. McDonald's and Burger King can compete for the
fast food dollars of tourists. For sit-down meals, one resort might
offer TGIFriday's and another Applebee's. You would work up a sweat
at a Bally's (adapted for space, of course).

Now, unless each of these businesses has it's own pressure hull (in
which case the orbital resort is several structures flying in close
formation, with tourists having to cross space in order to get from
one to another), then probably R/C owns the space in which the local
MikiD's is set up, and leases it to Ronald. This would make it a bit
more like the way a shopping mall operates, in which Richland Square
Mall owns a lot of floor space, but leases it out to Waldenbooks, KB
Toys, etc. This means, among other things, that you would not have
the cruise ship situation where, once you paid your fair, all the
food (and movies, and workouts, etc.) was included. Or maybe not.

This would certainly encourage more businesses to set up in space.
Perhaps there could even be "anti-trust" regulations requiring such a
set-up. Perhaps not. What think ye, Oh Fellow Space Wanderers?

Xenophile (yes, I want fries with that)