Ginger Hotels has opened its 17th Indian property in Mangalore and plans to open 13 more in the country by 2010.

Ginger, which is the budget arm of the Indian Hotels Company, opened its 79-bedroom Mangalore site in March, but has announced plans further expansion.

The cities marked for expansion include Guwahati, Durg, Surat, Channai, Jamshedpur and Pune.

The Mangalore hotel boasts a conference room, a cyber café and a gymnasium.

Mr Prabhat Pani, chief executive officer of Indian Hotels' parent company, Roots Corporation, said, "It gives us great pleasure in launching our third hotel in Karnataka. The state has tremendous potential for an innovative concept like Ginger and our initiatives will help in boosting the infrastructure for the domestic and international travellers.

"Ginger Hotel has created a niche for itself in the branded no-frills category since it launched the first hotel in Bengaluru in 2004."