The FCC issued an advisory Tuesday that warns companies not to block personal Wi-Fi devices.

The agency was responding to a petition, brought by Marriott and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), asking for clarification about rules for blocking hotspots. The companies have said their interest is in maintaining their own network security.

"In the 21st Century, Wi-Fi represents an essential on-ramp to the Internet," the FCC stated. "Persons or businesses causing intentional interference to Wi-Fi hotspots are subject to enforcement action."

The advisory continued:

The Enforcement Bureau has seen a disturbing trend in which hotels and other commercial establishments block wireless consumers from using their own personal Wi-Fi hot spots on the commercial establishment’s premises. As a result, the Bureau is protecting consumers by aggressively investigating and acting against such unlawful intentional interference.

In October, the FCC An online petition asking the FCC to prohibit blocking garnered nearly 29,000 signatures, and large companies like Google and Microsoft also registered their concern about Marriott's request.

In response to the public outcry, Marriott had already sought to clarify what it was asking for.

"Marriott International listens to its customers, and we will not block guests from using their personal Wi-Fi devices at any of our managed hotels," the company said in a statement earlier this month, adding:

"Marriott remains committed to protecting the security of Wi-Fi access in meeting and conference areas at our hotels. We will continue to look to the FCC to clarify appropriate security measures network operators can take to protect customer data, and will continue to work with the industry and others to find appropriate market solutions that do not involve the blocking of Wi-Fi devices."

AH&LA also said that the intent of the petition "is not to restrict personal Wi-Fi use."

"Research shows that there were some 42 million cybersecurity incidents last year, marking an almost 50% increase over the year before," the association said in a statement. "With nearly five million people checking into hotels every day, protecting them against cybersecurity threats is of utmost importance."

The statement went on to say that hotel companies want to protect guest data from "rogue operators or criminals" targeting large events:

"As an industry we seek to address this challenge while continuing to provide access to secure Wi-Fi. To that end, we are convening an AH&LA industry task force to develop practical, market-based solutions and are collaborating with our partners in the technology, telecommunications and other sectors to address this issue quickly. In the meantime, we think it is incumbent on policy makers to consider how their current rules may impact consumer safety and security."

Marriott did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Tuesday's FCC advisory.

This post has been updated with the statement from AH&LA.