The girlfriend experience, a London evening with someone glad to see you

Mostly, it is attention. She remembers what you mentioned about your flight, asks how the meeting went and notices when you would rather talk than listen. Walking from the hotel, she takes your arm without being asked. At dinner she suggests a dish to share. Nothing about it is grand, which is precisely why it works: the evening feels ordinary in the very best sense, like a night out with someone you already know well. And when it ends, she says goodbye as though she means it.

Picture two hours on a Thursday in Marylebone. She meets you beneath the portico of The Langham, and the two of you wander up Marylebone High Street while the bookshop windows are still lit, stopping for a glass of wine somewhere small with candles on the tables. The conversation moves from travel to music to the ridiculous name of the dog tied up outside. Back at the hotel there is time for a drink by the window before goodnight, and the pleasant sense of having spent the evening with a friend who happens to be lovely.

Cindy, slim with long blonde waves and blue eyes, sails, practises yoga and laughs easily, and she is at her brightest from late afternoon into the evening around her home in Chelsea. Lea, petite with auburn waves, loves beautifully decorated rooms and cheerfully rewrites the plan whenever a better idea appears; she lives in Belgravia. Nora, honey blonde and athletic, marks small victories with champagne and lives beside the Paddington hotels.

Rosa, petite and curvy with chestnut curls, bakes, collects vinyl and fills a room with warmth, and Lucy, slender with long dark curls, is as content spending a gallery afternoon with you as a late evening. Cindy and Nora are both among our blondes.

A single hour can hold a lovely drink and a proper hello, but this kind of evening tends to need a little space before it relaxes into itself. Two hours at £750 makes a good beginning. The four hour dinner date at £1,300 lets it travel through a table and a walk, and ten hours overnight at £2,400 lets it run on to breakfast, where the girlfriend experience often feels most natural of all.

Warmth grows fastest where both people feel at ease. Arrive on time, or tell the desk if a meeting overruns. Keep your phone in your pocket at dinner. When you book, say what kind of evening you are hoping for in plain, polite words, and the desk will match you with a girl who enjoys that pace. She brings the same courtesy to you, and the rest usually takes care of itself.

The end of the evening is handled as kindly as the start: a proper goodbye, no hurry towards the door, and no follow up from us unless you choose to get in touch. Should you want a second evening with her, mention it to the desk when you are next in London, and that evening tends to pick up exactly where the first one left off.

Drop the desk a line on WhatsApp or Telegram with her name, where you are staying, the hour you have in mind and how long. When your name, hotel and room number have been checked, a 25 percent transfer secures a standard evening, and an overnight takes 50 percent. Each step is explained on the booking page.