Asked at the counter, answered without small print

Four facts and a name, or four facts and a plan. Which day, what hour, how long and which hotel or street; then either a companion from The Selection or one line describing the night you are picturing. The script on the booking page is already laid out that way: copy it, fill the brackets and send.

Yes. The desk never closes, so a ten o'clock start is arranged like an evening one, from £250 for the hour and with the same single check. A late breakfast at your hotel or an hour before a meeting are both ordinary requests.

Yes. Each profile lists the languages she speaks, so the grid is a good place to start. Mention the language in your first message as well, and every suggestion that comes back from the desk will share it.

Always. Each companion sets her own hours and decides which bookings she accepts. When Clementine offers you a name, that companion has already said yes to the time and the place.

Not in the least. Let the desk know if your hotel asks guests to collect visitors from reception, and you will get a message the moment she is in the lobby, so you can come down. The large hotels by Marble Arch and the smaller townhouse hotels handle this differently, and she is used to both.

Send the building name, the street entrance and how the door works: a buzzer, a code, a concierge or a lift that needs a fob. Many flats along the street are reached through a side door rather than the shop front, and one line of directions saves her circling the block.

Yes. Homes are welcome everywhere we travel, from mews houses in Marylebone to flats by Regent's Park. The address is checked once before she sets off, and the visit then runs exactly like a hotel booking.

For whichever you describe. Outline the plan to Clementine and she chooses clothes to suit it, never anything that would turn heads at reception. Unsure yourself? Say where you are going and leave the choice to her.

No. A booking stays between you, her and the desk. No guest is discussed, described or photographed, no hotel is named afterwards, and no evening turns up on social media.

Ask first, and expect a polite no in most cases. Companions guard their own privacy as carefully as yours, which is also why many of their portraits have softened faces.

No. After the evening the desk sends nothing: no reminders, no offers, no request for feedback. The next message is yours to send, if you want to send one.

Somewhere with a door and a name: your hotel lobby, a hotel bar or the restaurant holding your table. A pavement corner on a Saturday afternoon, with a crowd pouring out of the Central line at Oxford Circus, is the one meeting point we steer people away from.

No, by design. Booking details are deleted after each evening, so nothing about you is waiting on file. Tell the desk again when you next write; if you kept your old chat, pointing to it takes one line.

Neither is expected. The figure on the rates page is the whole of it, and nothing on the night depends on more. If you want to mark an occasion, that is your own gesture, never a condition of the booking.

No. The ladder stays exactly as published in December, on Boxing Day and through every sale week, even when the pavements are at their most crowded. A busy season changes how early you should write, never what you pay.

No. Every fee on this site pays for time and companionship only, and that line holds on the page and on the night alike. Ask for anything further and the booking ends there, with the fee still owed.

Clementine tells you straight away and offers an alternative, usually someone with a similar style or the same languages, with a word on why the evening would suit her. You are never pressed to accept a substitute.

Yes, if she is free on your dates. Mention her name and when you are back, even weeks ahead. Returning to a familiar companion is a common request and easy to arrange.

Yes. It answers every day of the year, bank holidays included. New Year's Eve fills early, so write a few days ahead if the fireworks are part of the plan.

Yes. Book a length that covers the whole plan, usually the four hour dinner date for a performance and supper, and buy the tickets yourself. Wigmore Hall in Marylebone and, in summer, the open-air theatre in Regent's Park are both a short walk from hotels on this site.