The travel industry has evolved into one of the world’s most dynamic and data-driven sectors, shaped by digital transformation, shifting customer expectations, sustainability demands, and rapidly changing global travel patterns. As hotels, airlines, tour operators, travel tech platforms, and tourism boards navigate this complex landscape, expert travel consulting partners have become essential. These firms bring deep market intelligence, advanced analytics, technology integration capabilities, and strategic insights that help organizations stay competitive while unlocking new revenue opportunities.
From global strategy powerhouses to specialist hospitality advisory firms and travel-tech consulting experts, today’s top travel consulting companies play a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency, optimizing distribution, improving customer experiences, and future-proofing travel businesses. This curated list of the Top 20 Travel Consulting Companies highlights the industry leaders that are delivering measurable impact for travel brands around the world.
1. McKinsey & Company – Travel & Hospitality Practice
Founders: James O. McKinsey (firm founder)
Founded year: 1926 (McKinsey & Company)
Headquarters: New York, USA (global offices)
Product categories: Strategy & operating model, digital transformation, revenue management, customer loyalty design, M&A and portfolio strategy.
Description: McKinsey’s Travel & Hospitality practice blends global strategy expertise with deep digital, analytics and operations capabilities to help airlines, hotel chains, OTAs and travel platforms scale profitably. Their approach emphasizes end-to-end transformation – from demand forecasting and distribution economics to guest experience redesign and cost transformation. McKinsey is often engaged for complex portfolio plays (e.g., global rollouts or M&A carve-outs) and large digital-data builds, bringing advanced analytics and proprietary benchmarks to quantify upside and risk. Their work is aimed at senior leadership and boards seeking measurable revenue or margin improvements across travel ecosystems.
Key features:
- Board-level strategy and transformation programs.
- Large-scale digital & analytics capability building.
- Demand forecasting & network optimization.
- M&A and commercial due diligence.
- Customer segmentation and loyalty optimization.
- Cost-to-serve and operating model redesign.
- Industry benchmarks and scenario planning.
2. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) – Travel & Hospitality
Founders: Bruce D. Henderson (BCG founder)
Founded year: 1963 (BCG)
Headquarters: Boston, USA (global offices)
Product categories: Strategy, digital & AI, pricing strategy, sustainability strategy, revenue optimization.
Description: BCG combines strategic consulting with digital engineering and AI capabilities to tackle structural and commercial challenges in travel – e.g., airline network strategy, hotel portfolio repositioning, or platform monetization. Their strength lies in pairing creative commercial models with implementation teams (BCG X) to rapidly test and scale pilots. BCG often leads projects where innovation (new distribution models, subscription travel) intersects with legacy operations, helping incumbents reconfigure tech stacks and go-to-market models.
Key features:
- AI and digital product build (BCG X).
- Commercial model and pricing transformation.
- Sustainability and decarbonization roadmaps.
- Customer lifecycle and loyalty program redesign.
- Rapid prototyping + scale playbooks.
3. Bain & Company – Hospitality & Travel Practice
Founders: Bill Bain (Bain & Company founder)
Founded year: 1973 (Bain & Company)
Headquarters: Boston, USA (global offices)
Product categories: Revenue and loyalty strategies, customer experience, operational improvement, private equity due diligence for travel assets.
Description: Bain focuses on measurable commercial impact – bringing private-equity rigor, NPS/customer economics, and pricing capabilities to hotel groups, tour operators and travel platforms. They’re known for delivering targeted ROI programs (e.g., room-mix and segmentation initiatives, ancillary revenue plays for airlines), and they often partner with PE owners on value creation roadmaps. Bain’s pragmatic playbooks make them go-to advisors when executives want rapid topline lift plus a path to sustainable margins.
Key features:
- Private-equity value-creation playbooks.
- Loyalty economics & revenue uplift programs.
- Operational cost transformation with frontline engagement.
- Digital commerce and ancillaries optimization.
- Channel and direct-booking strategies.
4. Deloitte – Travel, Hospitality & Leisure (THL)
Founders: William Welch Deloitte (Deloitte founder)
Founded year: 1845 (Deloitte)
Headquarters: London; major THL hubs globally (New York, Dubai, Singapore)
Product categories: Tech transformation, cyber & data governance, tax & regulatory, hospitality operations, experience design.
Description: Deloitte blends big-four consulting scale with deep tech and regulatory services – useful for large hotel groups, airlines, and travel platforms managing global compliance, ERP and CRM transformations. They offer integrated services across tax, supply-chain, ESG reporting, and finance transformation, plus industry-specific tech implementations (PMS, GDS integrations, ERP migrations). Deloitte is often selected where travel clients need coordinated solutions across advisory, tax, and systems implementation.
Key features:
- End-to-end ERP, PMS and CRM implementations.
- Tax & regulatory advisory for cross-border travel operations.
- Cybersecurity and data privacy for customer data.
- Sustainability reporting and decarbonization frameworks.
- Large program management and change management.
5. Accenture – Travel Industry Services
Founders: (Accenture evolved from Arthur Andersen’s consulting practice)
Founded year: 1989 (Accenture as brand)
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland (global reach)
Product categories: Digital platforms, cloud migrations, customer experience, loyalty platforms, travel-tech integration.
Description: Accenture combines systems integration muscle with travel domain expertise – implementing large cloud-based platforms, moving legacy GDS/PMS workloads to modern architectures, and launching direct-to-consumer commerce. Its global delivery network makes it a common partner for airlines and hotel chains undertaking large IT modernizations or omni-channel retail transformations. Accenture also brings partnerships with cloud hyperscalers and specialized partners to accelerate travel tech modernization.
Key features:
- Cloud migration & platform modernization.
- Integration of GDS/PMS/CRS with modern commerce stacks.
- Omni-channel digital commerce and personalization.
- Large global delivery and managed services.
- Partner ecosystems with cloud and SaaS vendors.
6. PwC – Hospitality & Leisure Advisory
Founders: Samuel Lowell Price / William Cooper & others (legacy firms)
Founded year: 1998 (PwC formed via PricewaterhouseCoopers merger)
Headquarters: London, UK (global network)
Product categories: Strategy and operations, financial advisory, tax, risk & compliance, performance improvement.
Description: PwC helps travel and hospitality clients navigate regulatory complexity, financial restructuring, and performance improvement. They are frequently engaged for large due diligence, tax structuring for global portfolios, and operational turnarounds for chains and travel operators. PwC emphasizes measurable cost-to-serve and finance function uplift alongside commercial strategy work, making them a choice for CFOs and boards managing cross-jurisdictional portfolios.
Key features:
- M&A due diligence and transaction support.
- Tax & transfer-pricing advisory for global travel portfolios.
- Operational efficiency and cost transformation.
- Risk & compliance (safety, data, regulatory).
- Performance dashboards and FP&A modernization.
7. KPMG – Travel, Leisure & Hospitality Advisory
Founders: William Barclay Peat / James Marwick (legacy firms)
Founded year: (KPMG has earlier roots; modern entity evolved through 20th century)
Headquarters: Amstelveen, Netherlands (global network)
Product categories: Risk & compliance, data analytics, tax, business transformation, sustainability.
Description: KPMG offers integrated advisory that combines audit-grade rigor with travel sector know-how – useful for risk-sensitive projects (safety, regulatory compliance) and for organizations needing robust data analytics and financial controls. KPMG often supports hotel chains and carriers on enterprise risk, anti-fraud, and sustainability reporting, while also delivering growth strategies tied to fiscal and regulatory realities.
Key features:
- Enterprise risk and regulatory advisory.
- Data analytics and fraud detection for bookings & payments.
- Sustainability reporting and ESG assurance.
- Transaction services and valuations.
- Operational and IT risk assessments.
8. EY (Ernst & Young) – Travel, Hospitality & Leisure
Founders: Arthur Young / Alwin C. Ernst (legacy firms)
Founded year: Modern EY formed 1989 (merger history earlier)
Headquarters: London, UK (global)
Product categories: Customer strategy, transformation, digital, tax, M&A, workforce strategy.
Description: EY combines advisory on transformation and digital with finance and tax expertise, often helping travel firms with revenue re-engineering, loyalty economics, and workforce transformation. EY’s global reach is valuable for multi-jurisdictional rollouts, and they frequently support hospitality clients with guest experience redesign that aligns commercial, operational and finance objectives.
Key features:
- Customer experience & loyalty economics.
- Tax and transaction advisory.
- Workforce planning and talent transformation.
- Digital transformation and data platforms.
- Risk, regulatory and compliance services.
9. HVS Global Hospitality Services
Founders: Steve (Stephen) Rushmore.
Founded year: 1980.
Headquarters: Originally Garden City, New York; global offices (US + international).
Product categories: Hotel valuations & appraisals, feasibility studies, asset management, operations & franchise advisory, brokerage.
Description: HVS is a hospitality-specialist consultancy that has built one of the broadest global footprints focused solely on hotels and hospitality real estate. They provide valuation and feasibility work, asset and operational advisory, and brokerage services for owners, lenders and operators. HVS’s deep dataset of hotel comparable transactions and its long history make it a go-to for capital markets work, underwriting, and operational benchmarking – particularly where investors need specialist hotel valuation and feasibility inputs rather than generalist real-estate advice.
Key features:
- Hotel valuation & appraisal specialism.
- Feasibility studies and market demand analysis.
- Asset & operational advisory for owners & lenders.
- Extensive global office network for local market insight.
- Transaction brokerage and disposition support.
- Litigation support and expert witness services.
10. Horwath HTL
Founders: (Horwath formed historically; Horwath HTL as hospitality brand evolved)
Founded year: Legacy roots over a century; Horwath HTL’s hospitality focus consolidated across many decades.
Headquarters: Global network with offices in 50+ countries (original roots in Europe)
Product categories: Hotel, tourism & leisure consulting, feasibility studies, market intelligence, asset management.
Description: Horwath HTL is a specialist in hospitality, tourism and leisure consulting with a long institutional history and an expansive international footprint. They focus on impartial, asset-level advisory – feasibility, valuations, development advisory and tourism strategy – and are frequently retained by governments, resort developers and hotel owners to structure complex mixed-use or destination projects. Their global network enables cross-market comparables and local execution expertise for everything from boutique hotels to integrated resorts.
Key features:
- Tourism and destination strategy expertise.
- Asset-level feasibility and financial modelling.
- Hotel development advisory and operator selection.
- Local market offices for ground-truth intelligence.
- Independent valuations and market due diligence.
11. STR (Smith Travel Research)
Founders: Randy (Randell) and Carolyn Smith
Founded year: 1985
Headquarters: Hendersonville (Nashville area), Tennessee, USA; international offices.
Product categories: Hotel performance benchmarking (STAR reports), analytics & market intelligence, forecasting.
Description: STR is the hospitality industry’s leading data-benchmarking and analytics firm, delivering weekly and monthly performance indices (RevPAR, ADR, occupancy) through its STAR reports and broader data platforms. Widely used by hotels, brands, investors and advisors, STR’s dataset powers market analysis, competitive sets, and performance forecasting. Since acquisition by CoStar Group, STR’s analytics are increasingly integrated with commercial real-estate and transaction platforms – making it essential for investors and operators who need reliable benchmarking and forward-looking occupancy/ADR scenarios.
Key features:
- STAR benchmarking & competitive set analytics.
- Market and submarket performance dashboards.
- Demand forecasting & data subscriptions.
- Integration with transaction and real-estate tools.
- Custom research and advisory products.
12. Amadeus Consulting (Amadeus IT Group – Consulting & Professional Services)
Founders: Created by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and SAS (Amadeus group formation)
Founded year: Amadeus formed 1987 (consulting/professional services units evolved thereafter)
Headquarters: Madrid, Spain (Amadeus corporate) with global engineering & consulting hubs.
Product categories: Airline and travel technology consulting, distribution & merchandising strategy, IT integration, revenue management.
Description: Amadeus is a global travel-technology leader that also provides professional services and consulting to airlines, travel agencies, and hospitality partners. Their consulting arm helps customers deploy revenue management systems, modernize booking and distribution workflows, adopt NDC and merchandising practices, and integrate cloud-based commerce platforms. Because Amadeus controls deep reservation and distribution infrastructure, their advisory work is often grounded in product-level delivery – implementing technology stacks as well as advising on commercial distribution strategies.
Key features:
- CRS/GDS integration & distribution strategy.
- Airline retailing and NDC/offer management.
- Revenue management & merchandising implementations.
- Global deployment capability and product teams.
- Data & transaction analytics tied to booking flows.
13. Sabre Corporation – Consulting & Professional Services
Founders: Originated inside American Airlines (Sabre project)
Founded year: 1960 (Sabre system origins)
Headquarters: Southlake, Texas, USA
Product categories: GDS/CRS technology, distribution, revenue management, property & reservations systems, consulting services.
Description: Sabre is a major travel-technology company (GDS and operational systems) that also provides professional services to implement and optimize its platforms for airlines, agencies, and hotels. Sabre’s consulting teams advise on distribution strategies, retailing, revenue optimization and integrations, often paired with technology deployments (e.g., SabreSonic, hospitality solutions). Their long history in reservations and distribution makes them a natural choice when clients need combined product and advisory delivery.
Key features:
- GDS/CRS implementations and integrations.
- Retailing and revenue-management advisory.
- Hospitality property and reservations system services.
- Agency and NDC enablement.
- Managed services and technical support.
14. JLL – Hotels & Hospitality Advisory
Founders: (Jones Lang Wootton & LaSalle Partners merged historically)
Founded year: (historical roots 18th century firms; modern JLL formed via mergers)
Headquarters: Chicago, USA (global)
Product categories: Hotel asset sales & acquisitions, valuation, investment sales, asset & portfolio management, hospitality research.
Description: JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality practice sits inside a global real-estate powerhouse and focuses on transaction advisory, valuation, and asset management for hotel owners and investors. Their advantage is transaction reach and capital markets access – they market assets globally, advise on repositioning, and provide sector research that supports pricing and investment decisions. For owners seeking capital partners or sale mandates, JLL combines hospitality experience with institutional investor networks.
Key features:
- Global hotel investment sales & capital markets access.
- Valuation and financial due diligence.
- Asset & portfolio management for institutional owners.
- Sector research and investment outlooks.
- Transaction execution and investor matching.
15. CBRE Hotels & Hospitality
Founders: (CBRE corporate history originates early 20th century)
Founded year: CBRE established historically; CBRE Hotels launched as a hospitality arm in the 2000s era.
Headquarters: Dallas / Los Angeles (CBRE Hotels operations in U.S.; CBRE global HQ Los Angeles)
Product categories: Advisory for hotel capital markets, valuations, asset management, research & forecasting.
Description: CBRE Hotels brings large-scale real-estate capabilities to the hospitality sector – providing capital markets advisory, asset management and valuation services supported by strong research teams. Their research and forecasting capabilities are used to price portfolios, evaluate development opportunities, and advise on disposition strategies. CBRE’s strength is large transaction capability across institutional investor pools and integrated real-estate services.
Key features:
- Institutional capital markets and sales execution.
- Hotel valuations and appraisal services.
- Asset & portfolio optimization.
- Market research and forecasting.
- Integrated real-estate brokerage and advisory.
16. Oliver Wyman – Transport / Travel Consulting
Founders: (Oliver Wyman predecessor firms)
Founded year: 1984 (Oliver Wyman as firm)
Headquarters: New York & London (global)
Product categories: Airline strategy, network & fleet planning, pricing & revenue management, risk management.
Description: Oliver Wyman is well-regarded for transport and aviation economics, offering deep specialist teams for airlines, airports and rail operators. Their work focuses on network economics, cost and capacity optimization, revenue management and regulatory economics. Oliver Wyman combines technical modelling with strategic advisory, often engaged where complex operational modelling (e.g., fleet schedule optimization, airport capacity modelling) is required.
Key features:
- Airline network & fleet economics modelling.
- Revenue and pricing optimization.
- Airport economics and capacity planning.
- Regulatory & competition economics.
- Operational resilience & scenario modelling.
17. Phocuswright (Phocuswright Research & Advisory)
Founders: Philip Wolf (Phocuswright founder)
Founded year: 1994 (Phocuswright research established in mid-1990s)
Headquarters: New York, USA (events & global research footprint)
Product categories: Travel market research, custom research & advisory, industry conferences, trend intelligence.
Description: Phocuswright is a travel-sector research and events firm delivering market intelligence, trend reports and advisory to travel companies, investors and tech providers. Known for authoritative reports on OTAs, metasearch, distribution and travel tech trends, Phocuswright helps clients with go-to-market strategy, market sizing, and competitive mapping. Their research is used by strategy teams preparing market entry, fundraising, or product positioning plans.
Key features:
- Market sizing and consumer behavior reports.
- Custom advisory & VC/PE market diligence.
- Conferences and industry networking intelligence.
- Trend forecasting and innovation watch.
- Competitive mapping and vendor landscapes.
18. IDeaS (Revenue Management / Advisory; part of SAS)
Founders: IDeaS founded as specialist revenue-management software firm (later acquired)
Founded year: 1987 (IDeaS origins; various reorgs over decades)
Headquarters: Minneapolis area, USA (part of SAS analytics group)
Product categories: Revenue management software, pricing strategy, advisory services, forecasting engines.
Description: IDeaS is a leader in hotel revenue-management systems and advisory services, combining advanced forecasting engines with consulting to optimize pricing, inventory and distribution strategies. Their consulting work includes setting rate-rules, improving channel mix and integrating RM outputs into commercial teams. Because revenue management is core to hotel profitability, IDeaS’s consultancy is valued for direct, measurable uplift in RevPAR and margin.
Key features:
- Automated revenue management and forecasting engines.
- Pricing and inventory optimisation advisory.
- Channel mix and distribution guidance.
- Integration services with PMS and booking engines.
- Performance measurement and uplift tracking.
19. Travelport – Travel Technology & Advisory Services
Founders: Travelport formed from travel distribution consolidations (legacy firms)
Founded year: Travelport as brand formed in 2006 (evolved from Galileo/Worldspan)
Headquarters: Langley, UK / global offices
Product categories: Distribution (GDS), travel retailing, NDC enablement, content aggregation, professional services.
Description: Travelport is a major travel-content aggregator and GDS provider that also offers professional services for agencies and suppliers needing distribution, merchandising and NDC enablement. Their advisory teams help travel sellers modernize content flows, integrate new source systems, and deploy merchandising and payment solutions. Travelport’s consulting is practical and deployment-centred, often focused on agency ecosystems and retailing modernization.
Key features:
- GDS/aggregation & content distribution services.
- NDC and offer orchestration advisory.
- Agency retailing and merchandising enablement.
- Integration & implementation services.
- Payments and settlement advisory.
20. Skift Research – Travel Intelligence & Advisory
Founders: Rafat Ali (Skift founder)
Founded year: 2012 (Skift launched)
Headquarters: New York, USA
Product categories: Industry research, custom briefing services, advisory reports, trend analysis, events.
Description: Skift Research provides timely industry intelligence and actionable briefings for travel executives, combining journalism, data and bespoke research products. Its focus is on the intersection of travel, technology and consumer behavior – producing reports, briefings and advisory engagements that help clients understand new distribution models, platform competition and marketing dynamics. Skift’s content is widely used by strategy and product teams for competitor benchmarking and trend scanning.
Key features:
- Timely industry reports and trend analysis.
- Custom research & executive briefings.
- Industry events and networking intelligence.
- Competitive monitoring and vendor landscapes.
- Actionable insights for product and marketing teams.
Conclusion
The travel and hospitality sector is undergoing a profound transformation driven by digitalization, traveler behavioural shifts, sustainability pressures, and technological disruptions such as AI-powered personalization and next-generation distribution models. In this environment, choosing the right consulting partner can determine whether a travel business simply adapts-or truly leads.
The companies listed above represent the most influential advisors shaping the global travel ecosystem. Whether an organization needs strategic guidance, technology modernization, revenue-management optimization, market intelligence, or support for large-scale transformation, these firms offer proven expertise and industry-specific solutions. By leveraging the strengths of these top travel consulting companies, travel brands can accelerate growth, improve profitability, and deliver exceptional customer experiences in an increasingly competitive landscape.
