Luxury hotel concierge reveals the biggest mistake London tourists make - and how he once found a white elephant for a guest's dream wedding entrance

The luxurious hotel overlooks the Houses of Parliament and is located on the South Bank of the Thames.

Over the years, he has helped countless visitors and completed a variety of tasks to provide unforgettable trips to London.

But the 'biggest' request David had to complete was for a wedding at the hotel, he exclusively tells the Daily Mail.

'It was the second biggest Indian wedding we did at the hotel,' David recalls, revealing there were 1,000 guests.

were liaising with the hotel their plans for the big day, the husband-to-be had something very specific in mind.

'He wanted to sit on a white elephant and come across the bridge,' David reveals.

The hotel concierge laughs as he asks, 'So where do you start looking for a white elephant?'

But the experienced hotel expert wasn't deterred and he soon made the enquiries needed to make the groom's dream wedding entrance reality.

'My first port of call was London Zoo, so I called them, and they got hold of some people for me, and we had a chat with them,' David says.

'He came across a bridge on a white elephant.'

The concierge has even helped a keen bachelor successfully carry out an impressive marriage proposal on the London Eye.

He recalls how it 'was a bit difficult to do, but we managed to pull it off'.

'The guy wanted something completely out of the ordinary,' David explains. 'We were sitting there thinking for a couple of minutes.'

Fortunately, David managed to come up with a jaw-dropping plan the potential bride-to-be couldn't say no to.

'We arranged, they call it Cupid's Pod on the London Eye, he took his "to be" on the London Eye with champagne and all that kind of stuff,' the concierge recalls.

'So we arranged a private pod, no people on there, just them two, in the pod.'

David got big boards and wrote 'Will you marry me?' to help the gentleman ask the big question.

'We gave him a torch and he gave us a signal from the pod and then we put the sign up saying, "Will you marry me?" so that she could look down and see it from the London Eye,' he reveals.

Fortunately, David's effort wasn't wasted as the guest said yes to the proposal.

David knows the city well and has a solid recommendation he tells every guest who is visiting London for the first time.

To make the most of your trip and see all the impressive sights, the concierge urges visitors to go on a bus tour, but don't make the mistake of getting off.

'When we have guests come in, it's their first time to London, we always tell them to go on the one of the open top tour, because they get to see everything,' he explains.

'The tip is to stay on the bus. Don't get off, even if it says, hop on, hop off. You literally get to see everything, because the minute you start hopping off, you're stuck.'

David says if passengers get off the bus, they will have to waste time waiting for another instead of seeing 'all the major sights of London'.

'It's no good doing it on the underground, you're not going to see anything, so by doing one of those tours it makes it a lot easier,' he adds.

As for the best time to visit London for a weekend away, tourists should 'avoid school holidays,' according to David.

'Avoid things like half term and any things like Easter or Christmas, those kind of times, or any bank holidays, because they always tend to be a lot busier,' he says.

Instead, David recommends visiting after the children have returned to school.

'Late September, early October, is always a good time to come, or even spring, like March time before Easter,' David explains.

He describes June, July and August as the 'crazy times in London' because of the surge of tourists who visit then.

After years in the business, David still loves his job and admits: 'This is a job that I've never woken up each morning saying "Oh God, I've got to go to work" I have never felt like that.'

He enjoys that every day brings a different and 'new experience'.

However, David does admit that some days he gets the 'same questions', though this doesn't bother him.

'You get the same old days, you get the same questions. We never look at computer because we already know the answers,' he says.

By ALESIA FIDDLER - TRAVEL REPORTER