Couples: Gracious Company for You and Your Partner

Reasons vary as much as couples do. Some want a well travelled guest to bring fresh energy to a dinner on an anniversary trip. Others enjoy the lively dynamic of three people around a table, or simply like meeting someone new and interesting together while far from home. For couples doing this for the first time, a dinner or a drink in the hotel bar is often the gentlest beginning.

The most important part happens before anyone arrives. Both of you should feel entirely comfortable with the idea, and ideally you will choose the companion and the plan together. When you message, describe the kind of evening you both have in mind, where you would like to meet, and details that help her prepare, such as subjects you love or places you hope to see.

Your companion reads the room with care. She makes sure neither of you feels like a spectator, turns the conversation towards both of you and respects the tone you set together. Everything remains sociable, elegant companionship, and she is free to decline anything that was not agreed.

• Whether the evening begins at a restaurant, a bar or your hotel
• The companion you have chosen together, or the personality you are looking for
• The date, the start time and how long you would like her company

Michelle is elegant, chatty and nurturing, loves museums, sailing and a well made cocktail, and has a way of making two people feel equally welcome within minutes. Sonya is calm, thoughtful and warm, a lover of ballet and fragrance whose steady presence puts even slightly nervous couples at ease.

Liana is graceful and intuitive, and her talent for sensing what a moment needs makes her an exceptional guest for two. Cindy is cheerful, sporty and easygoing, into yoga, photography and sailing, and suits couples who might spend the afternoon on the water before dinner. Liana, Michelle and Sonya are also among our brunette companions.

A long dinner in the Jordaan, where small restaurants and brown cafés sit a pleasant stroll apart, makes for a relaxed evening. In Oud-Zuid, couples often pair the museums around Museumplein with drinks at an elegant hotel bar nearby. And for a night in, a suite with a sitting area and room service creates a comfortable, private setting for conversation that nobody needs to raise their voice for.

Couples often travel on a tighter schedule than solo guests, with museum tickets, dinner reservations and day trips already in the diary. Tell us which evening is free and we will fit the booking around it. A companion can also bring local ideas to the plan: a quieter terrace than the one in the guidebook, a late bar with a pianist, or a walking route home past the prettiest bridges. If you are staying outside the centre, choose a companion who lives close by and the evening can start sooner.

Couples evenings work best when everyone feels like a guest of honour. Welcome your companion as a new friend, share the conversation between the three of you and keep the evening at a pace that feels good to all. If either of you would like to change the plan, simply say so, because a relaxed evening is always better than a rigid one. Details of timing and meeting point are agreed beforehand, so the night itself can be about the company.