The five schools competing were Modul University (Austria), Stenden University (South Africa), Stenden University (The Netherlands), Breda University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands), and Strathmore University (Kenya), the 2018 winner.

The teams, comprised of four senior students and one instructor, competed in the Simulation Challenge in a competitive set of five (with one hotel operated by each school). Each week they made strategic decisions to improve the position of their hotels in the competitive set, with a focus on Market Share, Financials, Guest Satisfaction, and Associate Engagement. The winning team was the hotel with the best overall balanced scorecard at the end of the four-week competition.

While in the competition, the students also completed their Certification in Hotel Business Acumen via on-line learning modules, supplemented by weekly web conferences.

This was a very dynamic competition with teams using different strategies to move their hotel forward in the competitive set. In the end, it was the team from Strathmore University who were the winners for the second consecutive year (with different students and a different instructor lead from last year) and second place went to Modul University.

Russell Partnership Technology is very pleased to continue to deliver this competition, which is done in partnership with both EuroCHRIE and The International Society of Hotel Consultants.

Sincere congratulations to all involved! Russell Partnership Technology will be delighted to honor the top two teams at the joint EuroCHRIE/APacCHRIE Conference in Hong Kong.

Participating in the EuroCHRIE challenge 2019 was a lot of fun! The Strathmore University team bonded very well, and the decisions were made collegially. Each week of the Challenge had our team on toes. We eagerly anticipated the outcomes of our decisions to see how they had affected our performance and we also wanted to know how we stood Vis a Vis our closest competitors. The Challenge gave the team an opportunity to have a near ‘live’ experience of managing a hotel as well as learn critical and analytical skills that are necessary to do so successfully. We learnt how it feels trying to balance different aspects of the Hotel Business. It also taught us that besides very well studied decisions, there was always a blind spot and some risk had to be taken. All in all it was an enriching experience and a very pleasant surprise that we emerged the winners of the 2019 Challenge! We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate in the EuroCHRIE 2019 Challenge.

Through the EuroCHRIE challenge 2019 we could gain an insight about the everyday business of a hotel. Herein, we learned that making the right decisions depends on many factors. One important factor is to always know the performance of the hotel; the correct ratio between expenses and profits determine the vitality of the hotel. In addition, we learned that revenue management is significant for a hotel as the rooms of a hotel are perishable. So, it’s about making the right decisions for the short term in order to be successful in the long term. The challenge also showed us that all the departments are connected; there are no “most important department” since every department matters. Furthermore, we realised that the competitors never sleep, you have to always keep an eye on your competitors in order to achieve your goals. All in all, this challenge put us into the shoes of the real life operation and it also showed us how important it is to work as a team. Not only did we learn a lot about the hotel industry, but we also had a lot of fun during the challenge. We are very grateful to be part of the challenge.

Stenden – Hotel Management School

“Our time while participating in the EuroCHRIE challenge was amazing. Four people who did not know each other with different approaches placed together in a team to run a virtual hotel. By participating in the EuroCHRIE challenge we learned a lot about how the different KPI’s react on each other and teamwork, but also what it is like to play in a competitive set. Such a challenge actively implements our knowledge that we have accumulated at school over the years, gaining a better understanding of the links between all the different aspects of running a hotel. We are therefore also very thankful that we received this opportunity”

• Lotte Abeling
• Jelmer van der Veen
• Daniël Trouwen
• Arjan ten Brinke
• Instructor: Joke Tasma

Breda University of Applied Sciences

With five students of Breda University of Applied Sciences, we participated in the EuroCHRIE challenge. This competition has given us a good insight in all the aspects of revenue management and what revenue management entails in the hospitality business. We are very satisfied with the learning process and the knowledge it provided. We have really enjoyed participating in this challenge and would recommend it to other students who are interested in revenue management.

• Megan Hamelink
• Maxime Buis
• Rick Bollaart
• Cedricus Adrianus Marinus Johannes Visseren
• Olaf Nederlof

Stenden South Africa

This year, Stenden South Africa once again had the opportunity to participate in the EuroCHRIE University Challenge. Us students; Courtney Geyser, Nico Qiu, Pooja Chanbhai and Vongai Chokuda were selected and competed in the Simulation Challenge in a competitive set of five, with each hotel being operated by the hospitality schools. With the help of our instructor, Clare du Plessis, each week we were required to make strategic decisions to improve our position of our hotel within the competitive set looking at all aspects such as market share, guest satisfaction, financials and the associate engagement. The EuroCHRIE Challenge was an incredibly dynamic competition as all teams used different strategies in order to move their hotel to the top within the overall competitive set. The winning team was the hotel that had the best overall balanced scorecard at the end of the four-week competition. As a team, our strong point was that our hotel was able to gain most of market share in comparison to our comparison.

Overall, the Stenden South Africa team thoroughly enjoyed themselves, having being exposed to such a great opportunity we gained a great experience to learn new things within a practical setup as well as competing against other teams in real time. We also gained an abundance of knowledge and we were able to complete our Certification in Hotel Business Acumen, while engaging in weekly web conferences and online learning modules.

Russell Partnership Technology will be delighted to honor the top two teams at the joint EuroCHRIE/APacCHRIE Conference in Hong Kong.

Heidi Anaya
Head of Education – Russell Partnership Technology

heidi.anaya@russellpartnership.com

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