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Slim and slender: ten companions, one for every button on the lift panel

Ten companions on the rota have a slim or slender build; the shortest stands 163 cm and the tallest 178. Clean lines and a quiet entrance are what they share. Where they differ is the part of a building in which they are most at home, so this list reads like the brass panel beside a hotel lift: press a floor and meet the companion who belongs on it.

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B, the basement show: Stacy

Stacy goes down, not up: the late set at Drury Lane's Top Secret Comedy Club, where the acts are raw, then the ride back with the best line of the night, slightly improved in her retelling. Deadpan at 176 cm, she suits the guest whose last meeting ends at nine.

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G, the arrivals lobby: Vanessa

Vanessa meets people at the point of arrival, often at the Sofitel at Terminal 5 in Heathrow, and turns a long travel day into a calm first evening. She knows exactly how long the train from Paddington takes and how to make a delay feel like part of the plan.

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1, the lounge and the trolley: Margo

Margo belongs in an old hotel lounge. At Dukes Bar in St James's the martini is mixed beside the table, and she makes one last an hour. She prefers three hours at £700 or a full night at £1,800, planned the day before.

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2, the dining room: Samanta

Samanta is a dinner companion first, equally at home at a Mayfair table or a City business dinner, with everything agreed before three. She keeps a private list of London's best hotel staircases.

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3, the library: Patricia

Patricia takes the leather chair in the Library Bar at The Lanesborough, with a novel she picked for you on Curzon Street an hour earlier and a folding brush in her bag, in case your window has a view worth painting.

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4, the music room: Karolina

Karolina plays the piano seriously. After the opera at the Coliseum she crosses the road for a low lit drink at the St Martins Lane hotel, then walks the long way round through Covent Garden.

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5, the garden terrace: Liana and Cindy

Liana walks you through Mount Street Gardens at dusk and round into the Connaught, where nobody raises a voice. Cindy keeps to daylight and early evening, tea at the Cadogan and a walk by the river first.

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R, the roof: Lucy and Violetta

Lucy wants the highest table in the City from which to watch the sky. Violetta swims a mile before breakfast and, if you are staying at The Berkeley, will insist you try its rooftop pool in the morning.

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Pressing more than one button

Most evenings use two floors, a bar and then a quiet room, and a single hour at £250 rarely covers both. A £500 two hour visit or the £900 dinner date gives each floor its due, and a guest staying the week can keep one companion across several nights through the long stay booking. Six of the ten also stand on the statuesque list; Cindy is among the blondes and Lucy with the petite companions.

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Mood found

Choose from this list by name, or write two lines about the evening, and the desk offers whoever is on shift.

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