On August 5, Serena Williams took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her frustration with The Peninsula Hotel in Paris after she and her children were reportedly denied a table at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant. The retired tennis champion, who was in Paris for the Olympics, shared her experience with her followers, noting the unusual and disappointing nature of the encounter.
Williams, accompanied by her husband Alexis Ohanian and their two children—Alexis Olympia Jr., 6, and Adira River, 11 months—was seeking to dine at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc. Despite the restaurant’s apparent vacancy, Williams claimed she was turned away. “Yikes @PeninsulaParis I’ve been denied access to the rooftop to eat in an empty restaurant of nicer places 🫠but never with my kids,” she tweeted. “Always a first. 🙄 #Olympic2024.”
The Peninsula Paris responded to Williams’ tweet with an apology, explaining that the rooftop bar was fully booked and the only available tables were part of their gourmet restaurant, which was also reserved. “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 hotel wrote. They further assured Williams of their commitment to welcoming her and her family in the future.
An employee of L’Oiseau Blanc, Maxime Mannevy, spoke with Variety about the incident, noting that Williams appeared “unrecognizable” upon arrival. Mannevy explained that when Williams and her party arrived, only two tables were available, but they were already reserved by other hotel guests. “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,” Mannevy said.
The Peninsula Paris issued another statement to TODAY, reiterating their apologies and respect for Williams. “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,” the hotel said. “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.”
Williams and her family arrived in Paris shortly before the Olympic opening ceremony, where she participated as a torch bearer on July 26. During her stay, she attended various Olympic events, including the men’s singles tennis match where Serbian player Novak Djokovic triumphed over Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz to win gold.
Before retiring from competitive tennis, Williams earned four Olympic gold medals for Team USA. She secured gold in women’s singles and women’s doubles with her sister Venus at the 2012 London Games, as well as in women’s doubles at the Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008 Games.
