Gold for Erasmus University College Brussels in Sweden

During the international AEHT Competition 2025 in Västerås (Sweden), Dina Oehlers (24), a third-year Hotel Management student at Erasmushogeschool Brussel, and her teammate Edgar de Faria Moniz (Austria) won first prize in Hospitality Management. With this achievement, the duo was crowned the best in Europe within their discipline.

The AEHT (Association Européenne des Écoles d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme) unites more than 400 hotel schools across over 40 countries and hosts an annual large-scale international competition and conference. Hundreds of students compete in various hospitality and tourism disciplines. In the Hospitality Management category, the focus lies on strategic hotel management: participants are given a complex management case to analyse, develop, and defend professionally.

For Dina, the competition meant far more than an academic exercise. It was her first truly independent professional experience, without direct guidance, where she and Edgar had to make every decision entirely on their own.

“It felt like my first real test to discover whether running a hotel genuinely suits me,” Dina says.

From dream to direction

Dina consciously chose to study Hotel Management at Erasmushogeschool Brussel. Her motivation was clear from the start: working with people, an interest in languages, and a strong international ambition.

“I’ve dreamed since I was young of opening my own hotel one day. This programme fits perfectly with who I am and helps me develop both my social and organisational skills.”

A defining moment in her studies was her operational internship as an events trainee at the Tangla Hotel in Brussels, where she spent three months working under the event manager’s guidance.

The internship not only taught her about the day-to-day functioning of a hotel but also gave her valuable insight into the realities of the industry — lessons she continues to carry with her.

Teamwork, strategy, and sustainability

According to Dina, the key to their victory lay in the strong partnership between her and Edgar. They formed a cohesive, intuitive team that made every decision together — something the international jury clearly noticed.

Strategic insight and sustainability also played major roles in their winning concept. In their fictional hotel, they combined high-quality service with a sustainable vision of hospitality — a trend that is becoming increasingly important in the sector.

Her studies at EhB proved to be a major strength during the simulation. The strategic foundation and analytical thinking she developed there helped her make well-considered decisions under time pressure.

What inspired her most during the competition was the creative freedom:

“You run the hotel the way you’d want to run it in real life and then you immediately see whether your approach actually works.”

International recognition and future plans

The Gold Award is not only a crowning achievement for Dina but also an important step toward her future. The victory gave both her and Edgar the confidence to register for a new international challenge: the Cesim simulation competition.

In five years, Dina sees herself advancing within an international hotel, ideally in a Sales & Marketing Manager role. After that, she hopes to realise her ultimate dream: opening her own hotel.

The win is also a strong recognition for the programme itself. It shows that Erasmushogeschool Brussel provides students with a solid foundation to compete internationally at the highest level.

What hospitality truly means

Finally, Dina sums up her experience and her passion for the field perfectly:

“The most beautiful thing I’ve learned is that professional collaboration can and should be fun. Hospitality is making sure every guest feels the way you would want to feel yourself.”