SAN FRANCISCO — A major travel company like Airbnb isn’t without its share of controversies, from squatters who refuse to leave the premises to cities trying to clamp down on their operations. We sat down with the team, who gamely explained their side of things.

Q: In July, there was an incident in Palm Springs, California, involving two guests who refused to leave the premises of an Airbnb condominium. It was resolved last month with the squatters evicted and banned permamently from Airbnb. But the host complained it took too long for Airbnb to respond.

Philip Cardenas, Global Trust and Safety Head: We have a 24-hour customer support service and in this case, I admit we didn’t meet our own standards. We’ve since reached out to the host and she feels very much supported at the moment. We’ll do a post-mortem to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Guests and hosts with unacceptable behaviour are permanently removed from our platform. We don’t want to just respond when bad things happen, we also try to prevent them from happening by enabling guests and hosts to interact first to get their expectations sorted.

Q: Is Airbnb a major threat to hotels?

Chip Conley, Global Hospitality and Strategy Head: I own hotels and I’m an hotelier. Perhaps there’s a little bit of competition but Airbnb isn’t (a) direct competitor. Most of the listings tend to be in residential neighbourhoods, and it’s a different price point and experience. People who like Airbnb tend to stay twice as long. I think Airbnb and hotels can collaborate to market a destination.

Q: Cities like New York City have been trying to clamp down on your operations. How are you tackling this issue?

Lena Sonnichsen, Asia Pacific Communications Head: Regulations that govern housing are very old. They were made in a time without the Internet and Airbnb. Laws need to catch up. There are sensible ways to deal with this, where we can arrive at a fair and balanced result for everyone. It’s a massive undertaking and we’re constantly trying hard to engage with city officials.

Q: Last December, vacation rental site HomeAway tried to sue Airbnb for allegedly copying its birdhouse trademark for a birdhouse campaign. It was settled quietly out of court, but what have you learnt from that experience?

Andrew Shapiro, Design Head: I think it taught us that we have to be diligent with our research. People perceive the work you create differently.