What Is an Escort? A Plain Answer

An escort is someone paid for their time and company. That is the definition, and it is deliberately wide, because what an evening actually consists of varies more than any single sentence can carry.

The word gets used loosely enough that people arrive at it from very different directions, so this sets out what it means in Britain, what an escort does, and what separates it from the things it is regularly confused with.

The plain definition

An escort is booked for a set length of time, at a stated rate, for company. An hour, two hours, a dinner date, a night.

The rate covers time and companionship. What happens within that time is a private matter between two consenting adults, decided by them, and it is not what is being sold. That distinction sounds like lawyerly hedging and it is not: it is the actual legal position in England and Wales, and it is why rates are quoted by duration rather than by activity.

What an escort actually does

Most bookings are less exotic than the word suggests. In practice:

• An hour or two at her place or yours. The commonest booking by a wide margin.
• A dinner date, three hours or so, restaurant first.
• An event or a night out, where the point is having somebody with you.
• An overnight, which is a different shape of evening entirely. See what to expect from an overnight.

Conversation is a larger part of it than people expect, and for a good number of clients it is most of the point. That is not a euphemism. It is what the regulars come back for.

Female, male and trans escorts

The word is not gendered, though the search terms mostly are.

A female escort is what most people mean by the term and is what we list. A male escort works the same way, with a client base that is smaller and differently distributed. Trans escorts are listed across the same areas as everyone else, and you will see TS used as the shorthand on profiles.

Escort, sex worker, prostitute: which word

These get used interchangeably and they are not quite the same.

Sex worker is the broadest and the term most people in the industry prefer for themselves. It covers escorting, but also camming, stripping and a good deal else that involves no physical contact at all.

Prostitute is the word that appears in legislation and almost nowhere else. It is dated and widely disliked, and you will not hear it used by anyone working.

Escort sits inside sex work and describes the booking rather than the act: time, arranged in advance, at a stated rate.

None of the three is a legal category with different rules attached. The law is set out in whether booking an escort is legal in the UK.

How it differs from the arrangements it gets confused with

Dating apps are not this and treating them as though they are goes badly for everybody. There is no rate, no booking and no agreement.

Sugar arrangements are ongoing and open ended, usually involving an allowance rather than a rate. The absence of a stated price is the whole difference, and it is why people find them harder to navigate rather than easier.

A brothel is a premises rather than a person, and the definition is narrower than most people assume. See what counts as a brothel.

Agency or independent

An escort either works for herself or is listed with an agency. An agency holds the diary, takes the call and confirms the booking, which means one number covers everyone on the books and somebody can tell you immediately who is free tonight.

We are an agency, not a directory. Every one of the ninety four on our books has been met in person before her profile went live and her photographs checked against her at that meeting. Agency or independent sets out where the real differences show.

What it costs

In central London, most hourly rates sit between £200 and £400, with dinner dates and overnights priced separately. The rate is on the profile and there is no booking fee on top. What a London escort costs explains what moves the number.

If you are thinking about a first booking

Read booking for the first time, which covers the phone call and what happens at the door, and escort etiquette for the conventions nobody writes down.

Or browse the whole roster and call +44 20 7846 3480.