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.”
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.”