Top executives from the hospitality business told a Berlin conference this week that they would pump up investment in their own booking systems.

By doing so, they are following a path laid out by airlines, which now try to sell more flights themselves.

Both sectors traditionally gave online brokers big discounts, but now want to keep more of the takings themselves.

Changing times

The online brokers were a major feature of the conference in Berlin - the International Hotel Investment Forum - because the industry has changed.

When the third-party sites such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Travelocity started up in the late 1990s, the hotel business was happy to let them do the work of establishing the internet booking model.

As a result, steep discounts were the order of the day - and became even more necessary during the travel slump of 2001-2.

But that means mark-ups can now reach as much as 30% or more, hotel chiefs - including Hilton chief executive Stuart Bollenbach - said.

In contrast, traditional travel agents make a commission of about 10%.

Some analysts believe that the difference could be worth as much as $1bn on hotel groups' bottom lines.

Hotel chains may continue to try to focus sales through their own websites.

Alternatively, they may follow the lead of the airlines in setting up their own aggregators.