You closed for a week and the phone kept ringing anyway
Holiday closures create a queue nobody sees. GreetKeeper answers through the break, books into the week you reopen, and tells callers the truth about dates.
Caller
“Are you back next week? I need something sorted before the kids go back to school.”
What happened next
- Told the exact date you reopen, not a vague "after the holidays"
- Booked into your second day back rather than left waiting
- Owner returned to a filled calendar instead of a full voicemail
Coming back is worse than being away
The week off is fine. The problem is the morning you come back to nineteen voicemails, half of them from people who have already gone elsewhere.
A closure greeting that says "we are away until the new year" gives the caller nothing to do. They cannot book, so they either wait or they ring somebody open.
Public holidays are the fiddly part. Your regular hours say Thursday is a working day, and this particular Thursday is not, and nothing on the phone knows that.
GreetKeeper can hold a closure period and a reopening date, so callers hear a real date and can take a slot in the week you are back.
Covering a closed week
You set the dates in advance, then stop thinking about it.
Set the closure dates ahead of time
Enter the days you are shut and the date you reopen. Callers get told the actual date rather than being left to guess what "after the break" means.
Book into the week you return
Your reopening days are the ones offered. The caller ends the conversation with a time instead of an intention to ring again.
Decide what breaks the holiday
Most closures have one exception, and you name it. Everything outside your urgent list is written up and waiting when you get back.
Come back to a readable queue
Summaries in date order beat nineteen voicemails. You can see in ten minutes who booked, who is waiting and who needs ringing first.
What a closed week costs
You are paying a monthly plan for a period you would otherwise lose entirely.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
Starter is $49 a month for 200 answered calls at $0.45 over. Professional is $149 for 750 at $0.35. Scale is $349 for 2,000 at $0.25.
A holiday week is usually a low-volume week, so this rarely pushes you into overage. The value is the bookings sitting in your first week back.
An answering service billed by the hour charges you for a quiet closed week the same as a busy one. Per-call pricing means a slow holiday costs less.
Set it up before you leave
Questions people ask
Can I set closure dates in advance?
Yes, and that is the way to do it. Enter the closed days and the reopening date before you leave, and callers hear the real date rather than a vague message.
What about single public holidays?
Those work the same way. Mark the day as closed and callers are offered the next working day, which stops a booking landing on a day nobody is in.
Should I keep an urgent transfer running while closed?
Only if somebody has genuinely agreed to answer. A transfer rule pointing at an unanswered phone is worse than telling the caller plainly that you are closed.