How to set up a holiday closure

Add a holiday in your Hosted Voice portal and your phones switch to closed mode for those dates automatically, then switch back when you reopen. It takes about five minutes, and you can set it up weeks in advance.

During a holiday, callers hear your holiday greeting and then go to the destination your system uses for holidays, usually voicemail or an after-hours message. Your normal business hours stay as they are.

Before you start

This guide is for phone systems that already have business hours set up. Check these three things first, or your holiday may not take effect.

• Your business hours are set up. Go to Call Control > Business Hours and Holidays and open the Business Hours tab. Your opening hours should be listed there. If the list is empty, contact us before going further. To change them, see How to change your business hours.
• Your phones aren't stuck in a manual mode. Many systems have buttons on the phones, or dial codes such as *99 or *8xxx, that force the system into a set mode such as open or closed. While a forced mode is on, the system ignores your business hours and your holidays. Before the closure starts, make sure the system is back to following its schedule.
• You have a simple, single-site setup. If you have several phone numbers going to different places, more than one site, sites in different states or time zones, or locations with different trading hours, holidays need setting up for each one. Contact us and we'll set it up with you.

Set up the holiday

1. Open the Holidays tab

In the portal, go to Call Control > Business Hours and Holidays, open the Holidays tab, then click Add.

2. Name the holiday and choose a type

Enter a name you'll recognise, such as Christmas Closure 2026. Callers won't see it. For a one-off closure, set Holiday Type to By Date. Use By Month for a date that repeats every year, such as 25 December.

3. Pick your closure dates

Click the Date field, choose the first day you're closed, then the last day, and click Ok. The closure runs from 12:00 AM on the first day to 11:59 PM on the last. To close part-way through a day, click select time before Ok.

4. Add your holiday greeting

Next to Prompt, click Add and choose Record New or Upload. If you already have a greeting uploaded, pick it from the Prompt list instead.

• Record New: type a name for the greeting, choose your extension and click Record. Your phone will ring. Answer it and record your message. The name can't contain spaces or symbols, so use underscores, for example Christmas_Closure_2026.

• Upload: click Browse, choose an audio file, then click Upload. Use a .wav, .mp3 or .gsm file under 8 MB. A .wav recorded at 8 kHz, 16-bit works best.

5. Check the form and save

The Prompt field should now show your greeting. Click Save.

6. Click Apply

An orange Apply button appears at the top of the page after you save. Click it to put your holiday live.

Check it's working

Once you've clicked Apply, your holiday appears in the Holidays list and the Apply button disappears.

• On the day: once your closure has started, call your main number from a mobile. You should hear your holiday greeting.
• Before you leave: if anyone has used a phone button or dial code to force the system open or closed, set it back so the system is following its schedule again.
• Afterwards: a By Date holiday only applies to the dates you chose, so it can stay in the list. Delete it or edit the dates when you're ready to set up next year's closure.

Troubleshooting

• Calls still ring the phones during the closure. The system has probably been forced into a set mode with a phone button or a *99 / *8xxx dial code. Set it back so the system follows its schedule.
• The holiday never took effect. Apply wasn't clicked after saving. Open Business Hours and Holidays and click the orange Apply button.
• Callers don't hear the greeting. No greeting was chosen in Prompt, or the inbound route doesn't play holiday prompts. Edit the holiday and choose a greeting, or ask us to check your inbound route.
• "Space and ! @ # … are invalid" when naming a recording. Greeting names can't contain spaces or symbols. Use underscores instead.
• You have several numbers, sites, states or time zones. Each needs its own holiday settings. Contact us and we'll set it up with you.

To learn how business hours, holidays and after-hours routing work together, see Business hours, holidays and after-hours call handling.