With Harlan Butler, Former Innisfree President

I used to travel all the time … going from hotel to hotel to hotel. 

I had a favorite sport shirt, and I took it with me to one of the hotels. The next day it disappeared. 

I said: “I know I had this shirt with me, I’m sure of it.”

But it wasn’t there.

So I thought: “Maybe I’m mistaken.”

And I went home.

I talked to the housekeeper before I left. No one had seen it. I looked around at home, but it wasn’t there.

I went back to the same hotel six weeks later, and it was payday. I was helping the staff pass out paychecks and saying ‘hello’ to the employees. It was a good way for me to see everybody.

As they came in to get their paychecks, they would have to sign for them. A housekeeper came in, and she had a guy with her, and she was signing for her paycheck. He was her boyfriend. I looked up, and he was wearing my shirt!

That shirt was unique, and I knew it. It had lapel buttons and flaps and all that.

I was flabbergasted … I couldn’t think fast enough what to do. So I didn’t do anything. 

I gave her her paycheck, went to the head housekeeper and told her what had happened. 

The next afternoon when the lady came to work, she brought my shirt back. 

She had stolen my shirt and given it to her boyfriend!

The moral: We all have choices in life. When you work for Innisfree Hotels, we trust you will make the right one. 

(No matter how cool the shirt is.)

– As told to Ashley Kahn Salley

Lead Storyteller, Innisfree Hotels

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ABOUT ‘BACK IN TOPEKA’

In order to have a great future, we must celebrate and learn from our incredible past. The Innisfree Hotels story began in Topeka, Kansas. So when the folks who were around back then start a story with ‘Back in Topeka,’ we know it’s time to listen. These are tales of the challenges, of the laughter and tears that come with building a company like ours. That’s the sentiment behind this blog series, a chronicle of days gone by at Innisfree Hotels – and a map to get us where we’re going.