This is a profile image of Wouter Maes

Wouter Maes

PartnerBeijing

Leads McKinsey’s Travel initiatives in Asia and QuantumBlack, an AI company by McKinsey, for Greater China

Wouter applies his deep expertise in advanced analytics, digital, and AI to serving clients across Asia, with a focus on the travel, hospitality, and consumer industries. As a travel leader for Asia within McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics, and Infrastructure Practices, Wouter supports major airlines, hotel chains, property development groups, and hospitality businesses to refine corporate strategy and achieve growth. He specializes in developing analytically driven strategies and solutions for areas including market entry, branding, marketing, pricing, and loyalty programs. He has also helped several multinationals enter and achieve growth within the China market.

Examples of Wouter’s recent client experience include:

  • developing a global strategy for a leading ultra-luxury hospitality player, and driving the implementation of company-wide transformation in organization, revenue management, and margin optimization
  • developing an advanced analytics model for a leading hotel company to simulate the impact that changes to its loyalty program would produce on guest behavior and property economics
  • advising several global quick-service restaurants that operate in China on topics including mass promotion strategy, personalized promotions, pricing strategy, and growth plans
  • shaping a market-entry strategy for Latin American consumer packaged goods company’s B2C platform in China
  • defining the China digital and data strategy roadmap for a European mass apparel retailer

Wouter has been based in Beijing since 2020 and previously worked out of the Boston and Brussel offices. He is fluent in English, Dutch, and French.

Published Work

How businesses can close China’s AI talent gap,” McKinsey & Company, May 2023

Education

Harvard Business School
MBA

Vlerick Management School
MA, finance

Ghent University
BS, applied economics