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Press release · WCRC Intelligence Unit · Travel, Hospitality & Logistics · Most Powerful Brands 2026

Singapore Airlines and McDonald's lead WCRC's 2026 travel and hospitality table

A WCRC analysis of 30 airline, hotel, restaurant, cruise and logistics brands across its World, America, UK and Europe Most Powerful 100 rankings finds Asia and the Gulf leading in the air, and loyalty programmes leading everywhere else.

By WCRC Intelligence Unit · Published 13 November 2026 · For immediate release
Travel, Hospitality & Logistics: WCRC Most Powerful Brands 2026 industry analysis cover

13 November 2026. Singapore Airlines is the most powerful travel and hospitality brand in WCRC's 2026 rankings, with a WCRC Power Score of 78.18 and #26 in the World's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026. McDonald's is a hair behind at 78.11, #12 in America and #27 in the world.

The analysis, published today by the WCRC Intelligence Unit, covers 30 airline, hotel, restaurant, cruise and logistics brands ranked in the World's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026, America's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026, the UK's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 and Europe's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026.

Starbucks (76.46), Hilton (76.25) and Royal Caribbean International (75.90) complete the top five. Emirates (75.67, #55 in the world) and Qatar Airways (73.83, #93) join Singapore Airlines as the strongest airline brands. Delta (75.01) is America's highest-ranked airline.

America places 15 travel and hospitality brands in its Most Powerful 100, the most of any ranking. Europe's leader is Maersk (66.68), and the UK's is Greggs (65.92, #42).

Ryanair grew revenue 11% to €15.54bn, and Airbnb 10.3%, as per company filings. UPS reported revenue down 2.7%.

“Travel is a trust business. Travellers choose the airline, hotel or coffee shop they know will be the same every time, and loyalty programmes turn that habit into power. In the air, the Asian and Gulf carriers have set a standard of service that the Western airlines are still chasing.”

WCRC Intelligence Unit

The leaders in each ranking

  • World's Most Powerful 100Singapore Airlines #26 · 78.18
  • US Most Powerful 100McDonald's #12 · 78.11
  • UK Most Powerful 100Greggs #42 · 65.92
  • Europe Most Powerful 100Maersk #79 · 66.68

Read the full report: all 30 brands

Notes to editors

  • The analysis covers World's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 (13 brands); America's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 (15 brands); UK's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 (6 brands); Europe's Most Powerful 100 Brands 2026 (5 brands).
  • Revenue figures are as per company filings for the latest available financial year.
  • Only brands whose owners publish financial results were considered for these rankings.
  • Ranked brands may licence their WCRC badge for marketing use. Contact consulting@wcrcint.com.

About WCRC. WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting) is an independent research and consulting organisation. It publishes brand rankings including the World's Most Powerful 100 Brands, regional and national Most Powerful 100 Brands rankings, and national Most Trusted D2C Brands rankings, through its sites wcrcint.com, wcrcleaders.com and mostvaluablebrands.com. The WCRC Intelligence Unit publishes research briefings and industry analysis.

Media contact. WCRC Intelligence Unit, consulting@wcrcint.com

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Disclaimers

  1. Who was considered. Only brands whose owners publish financial results were considered for the underlying rankings. Brands that do not publish their financials have not been assessed or ranked. Not being in this analysis says nothing about a brand's quality.
  2. Source of every fact. This analysis uses only the facts published in WCRC's 2026 rankings named on this page, each checked twice against independent public sources. Scores, ranks and facts are as published in those rankings.
  3. Comparing scores. Brands from different rankings in the same family share one scoring method, so their scores can be read side by side. Scores marked provisional are WCRC desk assessments awaiting validation by the WCRC Business Intelligence Unit.
  4. Independent opinion. This analysis is WCRC's independent research and opinion, based on publicly available information as of November 2026. It is not an endorsement of any brand.
  5. Not a valuation or advice. Scores measure brand strength. They are not a financial valuation, and nothing here is investment, financial or purchasing advice.
  6. Revenue. Revenue is shown as per company filings for the latest available financial year. Where only group revenue is published, the group figure is shown and labelled. WCRC has not audited any figure.
  7. Trademarks. Brand names and trademarks belong to their owners and are used here for identification only. Their use does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by WCRC.
  8. Use of the badge. Ranked brands may use their WCRC badge only as provided, unaltered and linked to their ranking page. Any other use of the WCRC name, badge or data needs WCRC's written permission.
  9. Rights and AI. © 2026 WCRC. All rights reserved. WCRC's scoring methods are proprietary. Copying, text and data mining, and use of this content to train artificial intelligence models are not permitted without written permission; WCRC expressly reserves these rights, including under Article 4 of EU Directive 2019/790.
  10. Corrections. To report an error or ask for a review, write to consulting@wcrcint.com. Corrections are made promptly.