The CETT team wins the 2026 International Forecaster Cup and makes history as the first university in Spain to succeed in this competition
CETT has been declared the winner of the 5th edition of the International Forecaster Cup Competition (IFCC), a prestigious international competition co-organized by RevME and STR that brings together universities from around the world to test their skills in demand forecasting applied to the hotel and tourism sector.
For the first time, CETT students have won this competition, which featured 47 participating teams from various international universities. CETT thus becomes the first institution in Spain to achieve this international recognition.
The winning team, mentored by professor Nehru González Burgos, was composed of students from the Bachelor’s Degree in International Hotel Management: Álex Berrocal, David Nasarre, Laia Navarro, Aleix Vidilla, and Sebastián Viera.
The competition, which took place over seven weeks, involved making weekly predictions for occupancy and ADR (Average Daily Rate) in three international hotel markets: Nashville (U.S.), Hamburg (Germany), and Dubai (United Arab Emirates). This year, the inclusion of Dubai presented a particularly complex challenge due to the current geopolitical context, making it more difficult to produce accurate forecasts.
From the very first rounds, the CETT team ranked among the leaders in the overall standings, maintaining a consistent and rigorous performance through the final week of competition, during which they secured first place among the 47 participating teams from universities and business schools around the world.
One of the major challenges of the competition was the case study on hotel forecasts for Dubai. The political situation between Iran, the United States, and Israel completely altered the landscape, rendering the quantitative forecasts invalid. To address this, the team looked to other periods of crisis—particularly the COVID-19 pandemic—to understand how Dubai had reacted in similar situations.
The students emphasize that “participating in the competition has allowed us to apply the knowledge we gained during our degree program in a much deeper and more practical way. We’ve also learned the value of perseverance. It’s a lesson that goes beyond the competition and can be applied to both our professional and personal lives: staying committed, even when results aren’t immediate.”
This success reflects a solid foundation in data analysis, revenue management, critical thinking, and the practical application of knowledge in real and changing environments—skills that we at CETT-UB integrate across the entire curriculum. The victory also reaffirms our international standing and our commitment to excellence in the teaching of hotel and tourism management.
