A recent poll of 2,698 cheaters in London has shown that 71per cent elect to conduct their affair within a hotel room.

Sex on Female First

Sex on Female First

With discretion of paramount importance to philanderers, the survey, carried out by married dating website AshleyMadison.com, reported that 96 per cent of cheaters book rooms under false names, 76 per cent pay in cash to avoid a paper trail of incrimination, 83 per cent of couples will stagger their arrival times to deter suspicion, and 77 per cent visit the same hotel with different affair partners.

The Holiday Inn at Heathrow Airport proved to be the most popular destination for a premeditated liaison, with 36 per cent of those surveyed having visited the hotel at least once. Members cited the hotel’s accessibility and safe distance from central London as popular reasons to visit the hotel.

Budget hotels were also the order of the day for spontaneous hook-ups, with the Ibis and the Novotel chains coming third and fourth in the table. It seems there is a mismatch, however, between what mistresses want and what they get. Women who were polled on their dream destination cited boutique chain Hotel du Vin as their preferred choice, with the high-profile Cowley Manor regarded as the ultimate break away.

Thursdays are apparently the most popular days on which to cheat in a hotel, with 56 per cent of members giving themselves a pre-weekend treat before returning to their families, and 63 per cent of cheaters checking in after 5pm.

In terms of frequency, 53 per cent arrange a hotel tryst once a month, with a scandalous one per cent checking in more than once a week.

Only 34 per cent of members surveyed confessed to staying overnight in the hotel rooms with their lover, and 41 per cent stay half a day. Of the housewives surveyed, 23 per cent admitted to only visiting the hotels for a maximum of two hours, whilst their children are at school and before their husbands return home from work.

Noel Biderman, AshleyMadison.com’s CEO, said: “It is no secret that affairs invariably take place in hotel rooms – away from the family home. Discretion is imperative, and hotel staff are accustomed to not openly pass judgement when ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ check-in for an afternoon romp.

“Hotel cheating is a major revenue spinner for the hospitality industry, which is why we are seeing an increasing number of hotels popping up in the States that specialise in helping their clients keep their liaisons discreet. No doubt this trend will migrate across to UK shores imminently,” Noel added.