Tennis legend Serena Williams tried to visit a luxury hotel’s rooftop restaurant in Paris amid the 2024 Olympics
A luxury hotel in Paris has issued two statements after Serena Williams accused it of ‘denying access’ to her and her family.
On August 5, former professional tennis player and four-time Olympic gold medal winner Serena Williams took to Twitter to claim they had been ‘denied access‘ to an ’empty’ rooftop restaurant at a hotel.
She shared a photograph of a sign on the outside of the hotel, The Peninsula Paris, in France.
Her tweet read: “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first. #Olympic2024.”
It didn’t take long for people to flood to the post to weigh in, with social media users divided over the incident.
One said: “How does one get denied when they are Serena Wiliams…lol.”
Another added: “Do better Peninsula.”
Serena Williams accused The Peninsula of ‘denying access’ to her and her family. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
However, a third argued: “Paris restaurants typically only book to capacity and they don’t expect to turn tables multiple times each evening. So if a booking is made for 8pm, they will not seat someone at that table at seven. So at 7pm a restaurant may look empty at the moment, but every table is actually reserved. You can’t take this as a personal slight.”
While a fourth wrote: “You are aware the Olympic games are in town, so reservations everywhere are probably a good idea, right?”
And the hotel has since responded.
Serena Williams spoke out about The Peninsula on Twitter. (X/@serenawilliams)
The hotel’s Twitter page responded to Williams’ tweet, requesting she ‘please accept’ its ‘deepest apologies’ for the ‘disappointment’ she ‘encountered’ at the restaurant.
The tweet continued: “Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.”
It added: “We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again.”
The Peninsula also issued a statement to US Weekly Magazine, with a representative for the hotel explaining the establishment has the ‘utmost admiration and respect’ for the tennis player ‘as we do for all our esteemed guests’.
The statement continued: “We can only reiterate our deepest apologies for her perception of tonight’s situation. Today, August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables at that time belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved tonight.
“She has always been, and will always be, more than welcome with her family at The Peninsula.”
