The Peninsula Paris has responded after being called out for denying retired tennis champion Serena Williams and her daughter’s entry into their establishment.
Recall that on Monday, August
5, Serena revealed on X (formerly known as Twitter) that The Peninsula Hotel in
Paris denied her and her and Alexis Ohanian's children — Alexis Olympia Jr., 6,
and Adira River, 11 months — a table on Monday.
“Yikes @PeninsulaParis I’ve
been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but
never with my kids,” she wrote. “Always a first. #Olympic2024.”
The restaurant then replied to
the four-time Olympic gold medalist, 42.
“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,”
read the company’s first reply later on Monday.
“We have always been honored to welcome you
and will always be to welcome you again. The Peninsula Paris,” a second post
followed.
An employee at L’Oiseau Blanc,
Maxime Mannevy, told Variety that Williams looked “unrecognizable” when she
arrived at the restaurant with another woman and a stroller.
“When she came there were only two tables
available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” said Mannevy,
who told the outlet she was not working when Williams 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 Peninsula Paris also issued
a statement to TODAY.
“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.
The statement continued:
“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.”
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