Unlocking success with Michael Benikos By Mandy Clarke, Editor
I sat down with Michael Benikos, Managing Director, ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Australia, to find out more about the man with a passion for hotel security and technology, a sector he’s been central to for over 25 years. Where does your passion for door lock technology come from? I guess it’s being involved in the industry for so long and seeing the wide variety of things you can actually do with a door lock, and how it has become integral of the hotel operations. Whether that is in security, integrations to other systems or the move to contactless since COVID.
When did this passion begin? In 1992. My first job was installing safes into the ANA Hotel Sydney, now the Shangri La Sydney. When I started working in the industry, I had just come back from playing cricket in England, but subsequently went to university and now I have an MBA.
You had a career in cricket? I wouldn’t call it a career, but I went over to play minor league cricket in Somerset and Essex for a few years in our winter but then realised I wasn’t quite good enough and needed to get a real job. However, I fell in love with England while I was there, and I am keen to return for a holiday one day. Cricket was my sport but in my spare time I also played a fair bit of golf and got to a handicap of single figures but then kids came along, and I don’t get to play much now. With three young kids ages 12, eight and five, I just don’t have the
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time but I do plan to get back to golf when they are older.
Apart from the UK where is your favourite holiday destination? I have always like Fiji. It’s a beautiful place and the people are so nice.
When you’re a hotel guest, what do you look for when it comes to safety and security? I always look at the type of door locks installed. Not whether they are supplied by us but how they latch and secure the rooms. I also look at how the perimeter entries and lifts are secured, and how easy it is to get into the back of house areas.
What irks you most about safety and security in an accommodation? Hotels using metal keys. Hotels that are very slow to adopt new technology and fail to use its capabilities to make their business’s more efficient.
What attracts you to this industry? It’s the variety of great people I get to meet. From backpackers to managers of 5-star luxury hotels, to builders, and electricians. There is so much variety in the projects I work on that no day is ever the same.
And job satisfaction? Seeing a project through from concept, design, construction to opening, and then looking back remembering all the frustrating meetings and having a laugh.
What business achievements are you most proud of? In Australia when I started in the business, electronic locks were considered by hotels to be a ‘nice to have’ system
Michael Benikos Managing Director, ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Australia
but I’ve been part of taking it to another level which is, ‘needed by all’ and along the way embraced all the changes that came with it. I am also proud to have built many great relationships with colleagues and clients over the years.
It has been a difficult few years, how did COVID change your life? Less travel and more conference calls but on the bright side I was able to spend more time at home with my kids.
And what’s in store for the future of the sector? The industry is finally embracing technology to the benefit of both hotels and guests. I look forward to seeing how hotels use the new technologies to improve the guest experience.
SAFETY & SECURITY
You are a highly successful business leader, do you have any advice for those looking to carve out a career? Make sure you work in an area you enjoy because it will bring out the best in you.
What is the best advice you have been given? Service is the most important part of business. You can make a good product bad by bad service and a not so good product good by good service.
Finally, who inspires you? My father. He is a very hard worker and well-liked and respected by everyone I know. He keeps me honest and thinks I work for him!
