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Top hotel chains including Hilton and Marriott have called on the FCC to allow them to block guests from using their own wifi hotspots.

They claim the gadget devices interfere with wireless networks provided on-site - and even say they could be a security risk.

However, technology giants including Google have hit back, calling the plans 'inconsistent with the goals of promoting competition.'

Hoteliers say that conventions where attendees use their own wifi hotspots can cause problems

The American Hospitality & Lodging Association and Marriott International asked the FCC to declare that a hotel operator can use equipment to manage its network even if it 'may result in 'interference with or cause interference' to a [wireless device] being used by a guest on the operator's property.'

'Wi-Fi network operators should be able to manage their networks in order to provide a secure and reliable Wi-Fi service to guests on their premises,' they argued.

'As Wi-Fi becomes increasingly popular for connecting to the Internet, it is imperative that the Commission clarify the rules of the road for Wi-Fi network operators,' the hotels' petition to the FCC reads. 

It says that personal wifi hotspots could be used to launch attacks on guest's machines.

'Any access point can be used to launch an attack against's an operators network or threaten its guest's privacy (for example by attempting to obtain guest's credit card details or other personal information).

'Wi-Fi network operators should be able to manage their networks in order to provide a secure and reliable Wi-Fi service to guests on their premises.'

In October the FCC fined the Marriott Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, $600,000 for cutting off conventioneers from using their own Wi-Fi, rather than buying the service from the hotel for between $250 and $1,000 per stand.

The Marriott-owned Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center tech staff was using a monitoring system that de-authenticated guests' personal Wi-Fi hot spots.

Now, Google and Microsoft have filed objections in fairly strong terms.

Technology giants including Google have hit back, calling the plans 'inconsistent with the goals of promoting competition.'

'Allowing property owners to block guests' access to unaffiliated networks would be inconsistent with the goals of promoting competition and development of technologies in the market for Internet access,' said Google.

'There is no need for further clarification: The Commission should dismiss Petitioners' request for a rulemaking as inconsistent with settled, and sound, law.'

The wireless industry's trade group, CTIA, said 'The public is best served by increasing the potential for these networks, not allowing an individual Wi-Fi network manager unilaterally to shut them down,' CTIA told the FCC.

The FCC is considering the petition, and should announce the results of its findings in the New Year