Late night London: hotel bookings after midnight, and where 2am works

What changes after midnight

Three things. Transport: the Tube stops around half past midnight, apart from the Night Tube on Friday and Saturday on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, so every late arrival is made by car. Hotels: smaller hotels may lock the front door and rely on a bell or a night porter, and many larger ones switch their lifts to key cards only. People: the desk asks for the same three details as at noon and checks them just as carefully, because a companion crossing town at 02:00 needs to know the booking is genuine.

Where 2am is realistic

The quickest districts late at night are the ones where companions live. Rooms in the West End, on Park Lane and in Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Marylebone and Paddington sit inside the usual 30 to 45 minute window, and after midnight they tend towards its quick end because the roads are clear. The City of London and the King's Cross station hotels usually take 40 to 60 minutes, nearer 40 once traffic dies away.

Further out it is still possible, only slower. Canary Wharf and the Royal Docks run to 45 to 60 minutes. Heathrow and Gatwick are not 2am bookings unless they were arranged earlier in the evening: the three hour airport minimum and the long drive make a same hour request unrealistic, and the desk will say so.

Arrival windows, hour by hour

Between 22:00 and midnight the West End is at its slowest, as theatres and restaurants empty and taxis are scarce. Quoted times stretch by ten or fifteen minutes. Between midnight and 03:00 the roads are at their emptiest and arrivals at their quickest. After 03:00 fewer companions are still taking bookings, so the choice narrows, though the desk still answers every message.

Each profile shows the hours she usually keeps. A request after midnight goes first to the names who work late, and the reply says plainly who is free and when. If the honest answer is nobody for the next hour, you hear that too, rather than a vague promise.

Getting past the night porter

At a large hotel, the lobby after midnight is quiet but staffed, and a visitor walking to the lifts is ordinary. At a small townhouse hotel, the front door may be locked with a bell, and the night porter opens it. Either way the plan is the same: tell the desk the hotel, and if you know the lifts need a key, meet her downstairs and ride up together. Nothing needs saying at reception.

Serviced apartments are easier still after midnight. Send the building, the flat number and how the entry door works, and she comes straight up. The discreet arrival briefing cover the walk from pavement to corridor.

What to send at 1am

Four things, in one message: the hotel and its area, the time you want her, the length of the booking, and whether you would rather meet downstairs. The booking name and the room number follow once the time is agreed. Keep it plain; the desk reads a great many of these. Picked someone from the line-up already? Put her name first, with a second choice in case she has finished for the night.

Late, but never rushed

A late booking should still feel like an evening, not an errand. Order from the round the clock menu before she arrives, lower the lights, settle the finish time at the start. The 24 hour room service guide lists hotels that still cook at three in the morning. And if you are awake at 02:00 because of a 07:00 flight, say so: the desk will suggest a length that leaves some sleep.