Airbnb CEO addresses legality of rental service, recent issues in NYC

(CBS News) Airbnb, a hospitality website service, connects people who want to rent out living space to travelers who need a place to stay.

But some locales deem short-term rentals like those offered on Airbnb illegal, and has been cracking down on renters and landlords who have been opening their real estate for visitors.

Asked about recent issues of people running into trouble with the law over renting out their homes, Airbnb co-founder and chief executive officer Brian Chesky said on "CBS This Morning," "We're in 30,000 cities, hundreds of thousands of neighborhoods. They all have different rules. At the end of the day, we want to empower people to be able to rent out their space. We ask them to learn about their local rules and regulations, and we want to cooperate with cities."

And then, addressing recent issues in New York City, as reported in the New York Times recently, Chesky said, "Ultimately, at the end of the day, it's about educating our community about what the rules are, and then educating cities about who we are, what we're doing.

"Ultimately, we want to empower people and we have thousands of people around the world that are making an incredible, meaningful amount of revenue," he said. "We've helped thousands of people stay in their homes."

Airbnb has recently made headlines in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The website offered an outlet for victims looking for housing. Many people volunteered their homes for free.

For more with Chesky on his company and its success, watch the video in the player above.