Luxury hotels as orchestrators in gastronomic destination development and management: the case of Borgo Egnazia and the Itria Valley

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to uncover the main capabilities that a luxury hotel needs to develop when functioning as the orchestrator of a local gastronomic business ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach: Given the limited attention previous literature has placed on the role of luxury hotels as orchestrators in luxury gastronomic business ecosystems, this paper adopts a qualitative approach, i.e. the exploratory analysis of a single case study: the Italian high-end hotel Borgo Egnazia. Findings: The paper highlights the main capabilities developed by the orchestrator: relational, combinative and promotional capabilities. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies to explore what capabilities are needed by a company to orchestrate a destination that builds its product and service offerings upon the local food culture.