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Barbara Capozzola Alloway wanted to take a trip to New York to honor her late mother's memory.
Part of the December 2015 trip meant dining at The Roosevelt Hotel.
Alloway's mother received a coupon offering a complimentary meal at the hotel's restaurant.
The coupon, worth $2.50, was for winning "the Arthur Murray participation dance contest," according to the 1941 letter it came with.
"She never collected her gift but held on to the letter and left it to me when she died in 1999," Alloway said in The New York Times' Metropolitan Diary Jan. 17.
Alloway said the staff enthusiastically honored the coupon when she and her husband stopped by the hotel.
"The following night, we were treated to dinner. Cocktails, wine, Champagne, appetizer, entree and dessert. All of the staff served us most graciously, and when we finished dining, we were presented with a bill for $5.00."
"Condé Nast Traveler" reported that the couple was offered complimentary champagne.
Keith Riker, the Roosevelt's director of lounge operations, knew the letter was legitimate by the hotel's official letterhead.
He said he never encountered a story quite like Alloway's.
"(She) showed us the letter, and we looked at it and thought it was unbelievable," Riker said. "I was amazed by the letter. There were no other stories like this one."
