Serena Williams Calls Out Paris Hotel for Turning Her Away During 2024 Olympics

Serena Williams Slams Paris Restaurant

Ser­e­na Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam win­ner, has pub­licly crit­i­cized a five-star hotel in Paris for deny­ing her and her chil­dren access to their rooftop restau­rant dur­ing the 2024 Olympics.

Williams took to social media to express her dis­ap­point­ment, writ­ing: “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”.

Hotel Issues Apology

The Penin­su­la Hotel in Paris lat­er issued an apol­o­gy to Williams, acknowl­edg­ing the inci­dent and pro­vid­ing an explanation. 

They stat­ed: “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 fur­ther expressed their regret, say­ing: “We have always been hon­ored to wel­come you and will always be to wel­come you again. The Penin­su­la Paris.”

Williams’ fans were quick to crit­i­cize the hotel’s deci­sion, with one user ask­ing, “How does one get denied when they are Ser­e­na Williams…… lol”. 

Anoth­er fan point­ed out that Williams was bet­ter off not vis­it­ing the hotel, as “their food is subpar”.

The ten­nis leg­end has been a com­mon sight at the Olympics, attend­ing var­i­ous dis­ci­plines with her six-year-old daugh­ter, Olympia, and her fam­i­ly in Paris. 

She was also part of the Games’ open­ing cer­e­mo­ny on July 26, shar­ing a boat with Rafael Nadal, Carl Lewis, and Nadia Comaneci.