"We are interested and we will certainly be looking at it when the government announces its disinvestment plans for ITDC. We hope it would come about soon," Choice Hotels India chief operating officer Sunil Mathur said.

"At this stage, I cannot say anything beyond this on ITDC," Mathur said adding that Choice Hotels India saw tremendous opportunity in the hospitality sector especially in the mid-segment with a projected annual growth of 30 per cent.

Choice Hotels India, which is the master franchisee of Choice Hotels International for the brands Clarion Hotels, Quality Inns, Comfort Inns and Sleep Inns, operates 15 hotels in the country, mostly in South India where it saw good opportunity for executive travellers.

With the restructuring of its management last year, the company has tied up for setting up six more hotels in the country, of which MoUs have been signed for four. The four hotels are to come up in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad (2), and Bhubaneshwar. The other locations where it proposed to have hotels are Puri, Varanasi, Lucknow, Mussorie, Calicut and Sri Lanka.

Hotels for budget tourists are lacking in India, Mathur said adding Choice Hotels proposed to set up a chain of hotels in the entire country using its expertise in providing complete range of hotels operating and technical services through its unique `partners for profit' philosophy.

The services include hotel development, project planning, technical and pre-opening services, reservation system, sales and marketing, human resources, quality assurance inspection and financial planning.

Choice Hotels recently set up an online reservation system recently in India through which hotel booking could be made in any of the 5,000 hotels in the chain in 37 countries including the 15 hotels in India, Mathur said.

Realising the lack of training in the hospitality industry in the country, Mathur said Choice Hotels India has a thorough on-going programme across the country for training and human resource development.

The company conducted a quality assurance audit in order to ensure a `fresh' image for the hotel at all times with assured international standards.

He said the mission of the company is to become the largest hotel chain in India especially in the mid-segment price range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500 room rent by providing top class service without frills in Prime locations for budget tourists.