Access to my basement in the event of a tornado

[Brian1008]

I am a superhost of a 3 bedroom Airbnb (in Iowa) that adjoins my house but is a seperate lockable space. There is a door in the Airbnb space that is locked that goes down to my finished basement.  If there were ever a tornado ( and I wasn't home) I would want them to be able to access that door but obviously it needs to stay locked otherwise.  Wondering if anybody has ever solved this problem and how?  

[Ana1136]

@Brian1008 you could set up a door lock with a code and give them the code in case of a tornado warning. Or you could keep the key in a safe place and let them know the location in an event of tornado warning. 

[Allison2]

I host a suite attached to my house. There's a key hidden in the guest's side that opens the interior door to my space. This door has an open/close sensor that shoots me a text if opened.  In the case of bad weather or issue requiring access to the utilities in the basement we can tell the guest how to get to the key.

I considered a smart lock that I could remotely open, but was concerned about whether it would work in a power or internet outage.

The problem with both a hidden key or code is if communications are down the guest is stuck. You could leave the code or key in an accessible place "In case of emergency only", but there's always a risk some guest will abuse that access.

It would be nice if we could give Airbnb reps a "for your eyes only" emergency access instructions. Adding those details to the house manual is too much of a security risk, but it would be helpful for them to pass them along in an emergency.