What We ArrangeOne message · from £250 an hour

What we arrange: ten bookings, and the ladder underneath all of them

Every enquiry that reaches Cordelia is filed under one of the ten headings below before she answers it. The heading decides what she has to ask you for, how far ahead the hours want booking, and which women on the list are worth putting in front of you first. It does not decide the figure. Three hours is £700 whether those hours hold a concert, a boardroom dinner or a quiet room, and the whole ladder is printed on the rates page with nothing left out of it.

Read a heading as a starting point rather than a boundary. Most guests write in describing a night in two or three sentences, and the desk works out which line it belongs on. What follows here is the ten in order, shortest first, with the notice each one really wants.

Ten ways to book

Ten arrangements on the desk

01Hotel outcall companionshipArrival at your doorOutcall only. A companion leaves her own front door and travels to yours, and yours may be a hotel room in the middle of town or a flat with a porter downstairs. There is no address on this side...4 suited to it 02Dinner date companionshipA table for twoFour hours at £900 is the length this desk sells most, and the reason is arithmetic rather than sentiment. Drinks take twenty minutes, a dining room that is any good takes two hours over three...4 suited to it 03Overnight companionshipSupper to morningTen hours at £1,800, usually beginning around nine in the evening and ending after breakfast. It is the only length on the ladder that takes a whole night out of a companion's diary, which is why...4 suited to it 04Girlfriend experience companionshipThe unhurried eveningSome guests want an evening arranged down to the minute and some want the opposite, which is an hour that begins without a plan and finds its own shape. This heading is for the second kind. Ninety...4 suited to it 05Travel companionshipTravelling with youTwo quite different things sit under this heading. One is a London evening built around a departure or an arrival, the airport hotel the night before a seven o'clock flight, the companion who...4 suited to it 06Business event companionshipA work eveningClient dinners, receptions, conference evenings and the long industry sit down where everyone brings someone. This is the heading for an evening with other people at the table, and it is a...4 suited to it 07Duo companionshipTwo names, one bookingSome evenings are better with four people at the table than two. A duo booking puts two companions from this register into one evening, on one confirmation, with one start time and one finishing...4 suited to it 08Companionship for couplesBooked by twoA good number of the messages that reach this desk are written by two people rather than one. A couple wants a third at dinner, or company for a show, or simply an evening that is not the same...4 suited to it 09Night out companionshipOut past midnightThis is the heading for an evening that is meant to go somewhere rather than sit still. Bars, a show, a late table, a walk between all three, and a finish at whatever hour you booked rather than...4 suited to it 10Extended booking companionshipThe long bookingAnything running past a single night is arranged here. A weekend, three days around a conference, a week while you are in London on business, or a stretch where a companion is simply part of the...4 suited to it

The desk · 02

The six that can be arranged today

An arrival at your door, a table for two, the unhurried evening, out past midnight, two names on one booking and an evening booked by two can all be settled inside a few hours when the right diary is free. Write in the afternoon and you are choosing between names. Write at eleven at night and you are choosing between whoever is still unbooked, which is a smaller and less interesting choice.

The desk · 03

The four that want a day or more

Supper to morning clears a whole night from a companion's diary, so the desk asks for a day of warning. Travelling with you needs longer still, because dates, documents and a route have to be settled before anything is confirmed. A work evening is usually known about weeks ahead and should be booked then. The long booking is quoted once, in writing, after the dates are agreed.

The desk · 04

What is the same on all ten pages

The fee covers her hours and her company, nothing else is sold here, and her journey to any published district sits inside the figure already. She reaches Marylebone and Canary Wharf alike without a travel line appearing anywhere. Beyond Zone 2 the return cab fare is checked and added before you agree, so one number covers the night.

Each page names a few companions who suit that kind of evening. Treat those as suggestions and nothing firmer. Any of the twenty eight in the register can be asked for on any of these ten lines, and Cordelia answers yes or no in writing rather than leaving you to guess. When you know which heading fits, the steps from there are on the booking page.

Your turn

One line is enough

Write the district, the hour and the number of hours. What comes back has a name in it, a time in it and a figure in it, and nothing moves after that.

WhatsApp the desk Telegram