Gifting a companion booking to a friend

What you are buying, exactly

You make the booking. You give our team the city, the date, the hours and the occasion, you describe the kind of company that would suit her, and you pay for it. Then you tell her when and where to be. That is the whole mechanic.

There is no voucher, no code, no gift page and no account for her to open. Nothing is issued in her name and there is nothing for her to redeem. The booking is a confirmed slot in a diary from the moment he accepts, and the only thing that passes between the two of you is information.

Which puts the date in your hands, not hers

A slot has to fall on a particular day, someone has to choose that day, and that someone is you. She cannot pick it afterwards and she cannot move it herself. What you are giving her is an arrangement you have already made on her behalf — not a token she controls, and it is more honest to think of it that way from the start.

So the present is only as good as your reading of her calendar. Choose an evening you already know is clear: the event she has mentioned twice, the Saturday of her birthday weekend, the week after the move. If you are guessing, stop guessing — ask her, or plan it with her openly and keep the surprise for something else. A booking she cannot attend is not a kindness.

The money, and the deadline attached to it

The 30% advance is paid when you choose the companion, against our invoice, from the payments screen in your account. The rest of the price shown goes to him directly on the day; settle before the day that it comes from you, so she is never asked for it. Because you are the one who arranged it, the terms belong to you rather than to her: if nobody is introduced, or he cancels or does not come, the advance is refunded in full, and once an introduction is made it is earned and is not refunded if the date is cancelled.

Read that against the surprise you were planning. If you hand her the date the night before and she is away, working, or simply does not want to go, the introduction has already been made and the advance is not coming back. So buy yourself a margin: ask her before you choose anyone, while saying no still costs nothing.

What to tell her when you do

• The date, the start time, and roughly how long the booking runs
• Where they are meeting — a public place, agreed in advance
• That the company is strictly platonic, and was agreed that way in writing before she knew
• That she sets the boundaries on the day and can end it whenever she likes
• That a person checked his government ID against a selfie long before her name came up
• Our team's contact, so she can ask anything without going through you

When this is a good present, and when it is not

It lands when she has already said out loud that she does not want to turn up somewhere alone, or when a hard year has left her short of easy company and an unhurried afternoon of being listened to would be welcome. Framed that way it reads as what it is: a practical kindness with a date attached.

It lands badly as commentary. A booking handed to someone who never asked for company — a remark about her single status, her social life, how much time she spends indoors — is a present about the giver. The test is blunt and it works: if you would be uncomfortable telling her exactly why you booked it, do not book it.