Two names, one door, two figures
A duo is two companions at the same booking, arriving together and leaving together, each one booked at her own figure from the rates ladder. Two hours with two women is £500 apiece. There is no package, no pair rate and nothing bundled, and it is worth saying that plainly because the market around us is vague about it. You are paying for twice as much time and twice as much company.
The question worth asking the desk is not the price, which is arithmetic, but the pairing. Two women who genuinely like each other make an evening that runs itself. Two who have never met make a polite one. There are four or five pairs on the board who work together properly, and Nell will name those rather than the two most photographed women on the roster.
How a pair gets chosen
Write with two names, or one name and a question, or no names at all and two lines about the evening. The desk knows who travels together and who has never shared a cab, and will tell you honestly when a pairing you have asked for is a poor idea. Both women confirm separately before anything is held, so a duo takes longer to arrange than a single booking: half an hour rather than ten minutes, and longer if it is late.
Height and colouring are the things people ask about and the least useful things to choose on. Temperament is what shows in a room within ten minutes: one talker and one listener is a better evening than two of either, and the desk will steer you towards that without being asked.
Pairs that already work
Bianka and Milena both work the same stretch of Kingsland Road and reach a Hoxton door out of the same car. Cindy and Molly are the E8 pair, one quiet and one warm, which is a better combination than two of either. Jasmin and Nora are the two anchored beside the park in London Fields and will happily run an evening between them while you watch.
Where two works, and where it does not
Two companions suit a long table, a warehouse flat with somewhere to sit, and a night with several stops in it. They suit a standard hotel room considerably less. If the address is a room with a bed and one armchair, book one name and a longer length instead: the desk would rather tell you that now than have three adults negotiating a sofa at nine o'clock.
Counting the hours
The booked time starts when the second of them is through the door, not the first, which is the fair way round and the way it is written down. They arrive together, out of the same car, at the hour you were given. If one of them is held up, you hear from the desk before either sets off rather than after one has already arrived and the evening has gone sideways.
What a duo is, plainly
Two women booked for the same hours, in company with each other and with you. Nothing beyond that is sold, promised or hinted at anywhere on this site, and anything two adults choose to do with an evening remains entirely their own business. What a duo actually changes is the temperature of the room: it is louder, quicker and funnier than a single booking, and most people find afterwards that the conversation was the part worth paying for.
Notice, and calling it off
This is the one booking genuinely worth writing a day ahead, because two diaries have to agree and the good pairs are busy. Extending needs two answers rather than one, so raise it early in the evening. Ending sooner is simple: the hours you booked are the hours you pay for. Calling off with three hours of notice costs nothing, though it does disappoint two evenings rather than one, which is worth a thought.
Two notes worth reading first
Duos, in detail
01Is there a discount for booking two?
No. Each woman is paid the figure on the ladder for the hours you book, so two hours with two is £500 each. Nothing is bundled down and nothing is quietly added on either.
02Can the desk pick the pair for me?
It can, and the suggestion will be two women who actually know each other. Tell Nell what the evening is and you will get one pairing with a reason attached rather than a menu.
03Can a duo happen tonight?
Sometimes, and you will know within half an hour rather than ten minutes, because two diaries need checking. Written a day ahead you get the pairing you wanted instead of the one that is free.
04Do they arrive together or separately?
Together, out of the same car, at the hour you were given. Two women turning up ten minutes apart at a hotel door is worse for everybody, and the desk arranges it so that never happens.
Other nights on the book
The trains stop. We do not.
One message with the date, the time and the postcode, and the rest of the night is arranged quietly, anywhere from Hoxton down to the basin at Limehouse.