SHMS Wins International Forecaster Cup

SHMS Celebrates Win at the International Forecaster Cup

The Swiss Hotel Management School (SHMS) has reached an important academic milestone with a historic victory at the International Forecaster Cup — a global student forecasting competition focused on hotel performance analytics and revenue management. In its very first participation, SHMS not only competed against leading international universities but emerged as the overall winner, an achievement celebrated with a dedicated dinner honoring the students and faculty behind the success.

The win reflects SHMS’s strong emphasis on experiential learning, analytical thinking, and real-world application of hospitality management principles, reinforcing its position as one of Switzerland’s leading hospitality schools.

Understanding the International Forecaster Cup

The International Forecaster Cup is a global competition designed for university students studying hospitality management, tourism, business analytics, and related disciplines. The challenge places students in the role of industry analysts, requiring them to forecast hotel performance metrics such as occupancy using real historical hotel data.

Running over approximately seven weeks, the competition tests participants’ ability to apply forecasting techniques taught in academic programs — including moving averages, yield management formulas, time-series forecasting models, and customized analytical approaches developed by the teams themselves. Performance is evaluated using professional error metrics such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE), where lower values indicate more accurate forecasts.

Unlike purely theoretical exercises, the Forecaster Cup bridges academic learning and industry practice by exposing students to real STR data and the complexities of market-driven hotel forecasting. As such, it is widely regarded as both a rigorous academic challenge and a valuable preparation tool for careers in hotel revenue management and strategic decision-making.

A First Participation That Made History

This year marked the fourth edition of the International Forecaster Cup and the first time Swiss Hotel Management School took part. The competition brought together nearly 30 universities from around the world, including many American institutions, with approximately 90 teams competing.

Despite being newcomers to the event, the SHMS team demonstrated exceptional focus, collaboration, and analytical discipline throughout the seven-week competition. According to Nicolas Reine, lecturer at Swiss Hotel Management School, the achievement was particularly meaningful given the school’s first-time participation.

With ten years of experience teaching hotel management subjects such as revenue management and hospitality accounting at SHMS, Reine highlighted the intensity of the competition and the commitment shown by the students. He emphasized that the victory was entirely earned through their dedication, noting that the team consistently demonstrated focus, perseverance, and teamwork from start to finish.

Importantly, the success was a joint effort between students from both SHMS campuses in Caux and Leysin, making the win a shared achievement across the school.

An Innovative Academic and Team Structure

One of the defining elements behind the SHMS victory was the innovative academic approach taken to form the team. Students from different academic years and diverse backgrounds were brought together, allowing for a wide range of perspectives and skill sets to contribute to the forecasting process.

Dean Patrick Taffin explained that this diversity was a key factor in the team’s success, as it encouraged the sharing of ideas and fostered a collaborative learning environment that went beyond traditional classroom structures.

I am extremely proud of the entire team and how they came together, sharing different ideas and meeting every week to work toward something special. That effort truly paid off, and they won the Forecaster Cup.

From Solid Start to Top of the Rankings

For the students, the competition was both challenging and motivating. Alexis, the student team leader, described how the team began with a respectable but not outstanding ranking before pushing themselves to improve.

During the first week, we were ranked 21st, which wasn’t a bad result, but we are SHMS and we wanted to improve our position. We wanted to do better.

Through extensive discussions and experimentation, the team adopted a more innovative and creative forecasting approach. This shift paid off quickly, as the team climbed to first place in the rankings as early as week two and maintained a strong performance throughout the remainder of the competition.

Alexis described the experience as highly educational, emphasizing how much the team learned by continuously refining their methods and challenging their assumptions.

Learning Through Collaboration and Commitment

Many students highlighted that the Forecaster Cup was as much about teamwork and communication as it was about technical forecasting skills.

Emelie Louise Kimmerud described the competition using three words that captured the experience for her: patient, exciting, and rewarding — reflecting the sustained effort required over several weeks and the satisfaction of seeing that effort lead to success.

Pannawich Thirayuwat pointed to collaboration as one of the most important elements of the team’s performance. He explained how tasks were distributed effectively under strong leadership and how the team went beyond expectations, including manually reviewing hotel pricing data from Booking.com to improve forecast accuracy. While time-consuming, this extra effort helped set the team apart from its competitors.

Juliana Altagracia Veras Muñoz noted that the competition reinforced the importance of revenue management in driving hotel profitability. Beyond technical learning, she valued the opportunity to work closely with fellow students, strengthening her teamwork skills while applying classroom knowledge in a practical context.

For Trym Harald Vorren, the experience was also one of personal development. He reflected on how the competition helped him become more persistent and improve his communication skills in a group work setting — abilities that are essential in professional hospitality environments.

Student Pernille Stangeland Haldorsen was also part of the winning team and contributed to the overall success, even though she was unable to attend the celebration.

Celebrating Success at Swiss Hotel Management School

To mark this landmark achievement, Swiss Hotel Management School hosted a celebratory dinner honoring the students and academic staff involved in the Forecaster Cup victory. The event brought together members of the SHMS community to recognize the hard work, collaboration, and excellence demonstrated throughout the competition.

The celebration symbolized more than a trophy — it reflected SHMS’s commitment to experiential education, innovation, and preparing students for real-world challenges in the hospitality industry.

Preparing Data-Driven Hospitality Leaders

The International Forecaster Cup win underscores how SHMS successfully connects academic theory with industry practice. By integrating real hotel data, advanced forecasting techniques, and collaborative problem-solving into its curriculum, Swiss Hotel Management School equips students with skills that are increasingly vital in today’s data-driven hospitality sector.

This first-ever victory not only marks a proud moment for SHMS but also reinforces its reputation as a leading hospitality management school in Switzerland — one that empowers students to excel academically, professionally, and globally.