Apr. 26, 2003 - InterContinental Hotels Group, operator of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza chains, plans to lay off up to 800 employees of its corporate global work force. 

The staff reductions are part of a $100 million cost-cutting move the company previously announced, which will include office closings and consolidations. About 50 percent of the savings will come from layoffs in the coming months. InterContinental employs 2,600 people in its global corporate staff. 

It is not known how many jobs will be lost at the company's Atlanta operations, said Carolyn Hergert, an InterContinental spokeswoman. InterContinental's North American headquarters is in Atlanta and employs about 1,500 metro Atlantans. 

Hergert said InterContinental is talking with employees throughout its global work force and sorting out what jobs will remain, a process that may take months. About 30 percent of the staff reductions will be among InterContinental's management. 

"We're going through an employee consultation period that should last through May or June," Hergert said. "Until that employee consultation period is completed, we will not be able to release numbers regionally." 

In addition to its North American headquarters in Dunwoody, InterContinental has three offices in Alpharetta. No decisions have been made on whether those offices will be closed, Hergert said. 

-----To see more of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ajc.com 

(c) 2003, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. SXC,