Asked at the desk after dark, answered here in daylight

With the evening rather than the paperwork. Settle the hour, the length and where you are staying, then browse the Tonight page or skip it and describe what you have in mind. Paste the script from the booking page into WhatsApp and Philippa takes it from there, in plain English and with no pressure to commit.

Yes. The desk works around the clock, and a daytime hour between meetings is arranged exactly like an evening, from £250, with the same single check. Hotels on the estate see visitors at every hour, so two in the afternoon is as unremarkable as ten at night.

Give the desk the restaurant and the time of your table in the first message. On a weeknight an hour or two is usually plenty; for a Friday, or a night when a large show is running at ExCeL, write by mid-afternoon. Mention too if you prefer to meet at the restaurant itself or in your hotel lobby beforehand.

Tell the desk the code exactly as the invitation puts it: black tie, business formal, smart casual. She dresses to it and to the venue, so she is as at home in a banquet hall on the Royal Docks as in a hotel bar at Westferry Circus. Unsure what the night calls for? Describe the venue and leave the choice to her.

The address, once, before she leaves. After that a flat in Limehouse or a house in Greenwich is handled exactly like a hotel room. Mention how she gets in, whether that means a night porter, a buzzer or a fob-only lift, so she never stands waiting at the wrong door.

Yes. Booked time counts wherever it is spent, so a crossing from Canary Wharf pier to the O2, or a cab from the estate to Greenwich for a later table, is simply part of the evening. Fares for the two of you during the booking are yours to cover, as with any guest.

Only if you do first. Canary Wharf is a small world at lunchtime, and companions keep one simple rule: no sign of recognition in public unless the guest offers it. The same applies in a hotel lobby on any later visit.

The chat on your side, for exactly as long as you keep it. Delete it whenever you like. The desk clears its own copy of the booking details once the evening is over, and nothing is sent to you later: no newsletter, no reminders, no message asking how it went.

No. Guests are never named, described or pictured here. If you decide to leave feedback, it is shown under your first name and the month, and only if you agree.

No card is taken, and no card number is ever requested, by message or at the door. You pay her yourself, face to face, as she arrives. Nothing is invoiced to a company.

Nothing from the desk ever reaches it. The fee passes from you to her in person, and the agency sends no bill, takes no payment and leaves no merchant name for anyone to find.

Please. Settling at the start, quietly and in private, means neither of you has to think about it again. Have the figure from your confirmation ready before she knocks, and the rest of the booking is simply time together.

Because it would be wrong half the time. Companions set their own schedules and those move by the hour. Profiles do show when someone is away, with the date she returns; for tonight, one message to the desk brings an accurate answer in minutes.

It is busier. Show weeks fill the hotels around Royal Docks and ExCeL, and the desk with them, so write in the afternoon if one companion in particular matters to you. Rates stay exactly the same, and the Zone 3 fare is quoted as usual.

Yes, if her diary allows. Each evening is confirmed separately and priced by its own length on the rates ladder, and a run of days spent together is quoted as a whole, in writing, before anything is fixed.

Time and companionship only, meaning her company across the hours you have booked. Nothing further is on offer, and nothing further is hinted at anywhere on this site. Asking for more ends the evening at once, and the fee is kept.

Yes: anyone under 18 or whose age is in doubt, a guest who is heavily intoxicated or rude before the evening starts, and any request that goes beyond company. A companion may also end a booking at any point if she feels unsafe or disrespected, and she keeps her fee.

Please do, by message to the desk. A note goes up only after a genuine booking, shortened to your first name and the month and edited for anything explicit, and a fair three-star verdict sits beside the glowing ones. The companion it concerns can ask for it to come down at any time.