Serena Williams has called out a Parisian hotel for denying her and her family access to its rooftop restaurant.
On Monday, August 5, the retired tennis legend, who served as a torch bearer during this year’s Olympic games, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her frustration after The Peninsula Hotel in Paris refused to seat her and her kids – despite the restaurant being visibly empty.
“Yikes @PeninsulaParis,” Williams, 42, wrote. “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.”
Williams shares two daughters with her husband, Alexis Ohanian: 6-year-old Olympia and 11-month-old Adira.
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 pic.twitter.com/lEGJR5WoEn
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 5, 2024
Shortly after, The Peninsula responded to Williams’ tweet, explaining that they had no intention of offending her and insisted they were fully booked, even if the tables appeared empty at the time.
“Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight,” read the restaurant’s first reply. “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.”
“We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris,” a second post followed.
Dear Mrs. Williams,
Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight.
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.— The Peninsula Paris (@peninsulaparis) August 5, 2024
A staff member at L’Oiseau Blanc, Maxime Mannevy, told Variety that Williams arrived at the restaurant with another woman and a stroller and was completely “unrecognizable.”
“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients at the hotel,” said Mannevy, who told the news outlet that she was not working when the gold medalist was at the restaurant.
“My colleague didn’t recognize her and feels terrible, but he told her what he would have told any other client, which is to wait downstairs in the bar for a table to become available. That was absolutely nothing personal.”
The Paris establishment also issued a statement to Entertainment Tonight: “In response to Mrs. Williams’ tweet, for whom we have the utmost admiration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed guests, we can only reiterate our deepest apologies for her perception of tonight’s situation.”
“Today, August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed unfortunately 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 and will always be more than welcome with her family to The Peninsula,” the statement continued.
Williams is in Paris for the Olympic Games, where she has been spotted watching the tennis matchups alongside her husband.
She also participated in the opening ceremonies, including the light of the Olympic torch, and has been in the city of lights since mid-July in preparation for the event.
