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Quick answer: Before you lock up, set your holiday hours on Google, change your voicemail greeting so it says the dates you're closed and when you reopen, and send the line somewhere that can actually book, such as an answering service or an AI receptionist, rather than a voicemail box. Clients keep calling while you're shut, often to book for the week you get back, and most won't leave a message or try a second time.
You've earned the time off. The salon is dark for a week over Christmas, or you're away for a stretch in February, and the front desk is empty. The phone doesn't know that. It rings on through the quiet, and every call that hits a voicemail beep is a client deciding what to do next.
Some of those callers want a slot for the day you reopen. Some are holding a gift card a relative just gave them. A few are new, phoning you for the first time because a friend passed on your name. How the line treats them while the lights are off decides how many are still yours when you walk back in.
A closed sign on the door doesn't stop the phone. People reach for it at odd times precisely because that's when they remember they need an appointment, and they expect to sort it out then and there. Zenoti's 2025 survey of salon and spa clients found that 81% of regulars need to manage their appointments outside normal business hours at least sometimes, and that 77% still think calling is the easiest way to change an existing booking. The phone is their first move, and your closed week doesn't change that.
The same survey found that 69% of salon and spa customers have skipped booking an appointment altogether because it was too hard to get through to someone or book online. That number is the whole problem in one line. A client who can't reach you often doesn't wait and try again later. She books her nails somewhere she can get through today. If your line goes dark for ten days in December, that's ten days of callers meeting a dead end, and a dead end sends them elsewhere. The same pattern shows up with after-hours calls every ordinary week; a holiday closure just stretches it across a run of days.
Closing for a quiet week is one thing. Closing during the busiest few weeks of the salon year is another, and the holidays are exactly that. SalonToday, citing Phorest booking data, reports that December is the biggest sales month of the year for salons. The build-up starts early too: a separate Phorest analysis found that US clients begin booking holiday appointments around October 17, so by the time you close for your own break, the phones have been running hot for weeks.
Gift cards pour fuel on it. The National Retail Federation's 2025 holiday data ranks gift cards the second-most popular gift of the season, with 43% of shoppers planning to buy at least one and total gift card spending expected to reach 29 billion dollars. Plenty of those cards are for salons and spas, and the person holding one calls to book the moment they get it, often over the very break when you're closed. With per-person holiday spending forecast at 890 dollars this year, a missed December call isn't a small loss. It can be a colour correction, a party blow-dry, or a gift card redemption that just walked to the salon down the road.
The default move before a closure is to let the machine pick up. The trouble is that callers treat voicemail as a wall, not a door. In CallRail's 2025 survey of 1,000 US consumers, 78% said they had given up on a business after an unanswered call, only 42% said they leave a voicemail at all, and 21% said they immediately call another business instead. A greeting that ends in a beep isn't holding your spot in the queue. For most callers it's the cue to dial the next name on the list. Here's more on why salon clients won't leave a voicemail.
Patience is thin even when someone does reach a live phone. Zenoti's 2024 data found that 52% of spa customers will hang up or abandon the attempt after three minutes on hold, and the lost bookings from that add up fast, as the numbers in the true cost of putting clients on hold show. A closure removes even the slim chance of a pickup, so whatever you leave on the line has to do the work on its own. A plain voicemail box doesn't.
There's a reputation cost too. Most people read reviews before they choose a local business, as BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey has found year after year, and a client who couldn't reach you over the holidays is one bad experience away from saying so in public. The call you never heard can turn into a star rating you can't undo.
None of this needs a big system. It needs a few settings changed in the hour before you leave, and switched back when you return.
Most clients find your number through Google, so that's where your closure should show first. In your Google Business Profile you can set special hours for specific dates, including marking a day as closed, and Google switches to them automatically when the date arrives. Google even suggests confirming your hours for official holidays when they match your usual schedule, so clients can see the times are current. Set the dates before you leave, and take the entries down once you're back so an old closed day doesn't linger on your listing for weeks.
If any calls will still reach voicemail, the greeting has to earn its keep. Say the exact dates you're closed, the day you reopen, and one thing the caller can do right now, such as book online or send a text. 'You've reached us, please leave a message' tells a holiday caller nothing. 'We're closed from the 24th and reopen on the 2nd; to book for January, visit our website or reply by text' gives her a path that doesn't involve waiting on you.
The setting that saves the most bookings is call forwarding. You keep your number, and calls route to wherever you choose while you're away. The step-by-step for salon call forwarding covers the carrier codes, but the rule that matters is the destination: forward to something that can book the appointment, not to a second voicemail box that moves the problem a few feet down the hall.
Forwarding only helps if the call reaches something that can help the caller. The usual options, from least to most useful:
The best destination for a closed salon is the one that answers instantly and can finish the booking, because the caller came to book, not to be called back next week. An AI receptionist can also send a missed-call text back and text clients on your waitlist when something opens, so the quiet days still fill your first week open.
For the stretch right after you reopen, when the phone is busiest, it helps to know when salons get the most calls so you can staff the desk for it.
CallPad is an AI receptionist for salons, spas, med spas, barbershops and clinics in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. It answers every call 24/7 without adding staff hours, which is exactly what a closed week needs, and it handles several calls at once and screens out spam. It answers questions from your own information, including your prices and policies, and speaks several languages. It books, moves and cancels appointments in real time on supported booking systems, including multi-service and group bookings, and can take a deposit or payment on the call or sell a gift card. If you have more than one location, it asks which one the caller wants and books into that location's calendar. It replies to texts and can book by text, sends missed-call text-backs, and texts clients on your waitlist when a slot opens up. When a caller needs a person, it can transfer the call or take a message, and your team gets an email saying what the caller wanted. Setup takes about 10 minutes, and you keep your existing number by forwarding it, so it slots straight into the closure plan above. You can hear what CallPad sounds like on a call before you decide.
Set your holiday hours on Google, update your voicemail greeting with your closure and reopening dates, and forward the line to something that can book, such as an answering service or an AI receptionist, rather than leaving every call to voicemail.
Turning it off sends callers straight to voicemail or a dead line, and most won't leave a message or call back. Forwarding the number to a service that can book keeps those appointments instead of losing them.
In your Google Business Profile, open Hours, then Special hours, choose the date and mark it closed or enter different times, and save. Google applies the change on the day. Remove the entries once you reopen.
Give the exact dates you're closed, the day you reopen, and one action the caller can take now, such as booking online or sending a text. Skip the generic 'leave a message' and give them a path that doesn't depend on you calling back.
To whatever can answer and book right away. A stylist's mobile burns your time off, and a second voicemail box just hides the missed call. An AI receptionist answers 24/7 and books the appointment into your calendar while you're away.
Want every call answered and booked while your salon is closed for the holidays, without spending your break on the phone? Contact CallPad to hear how it would answer your salon's calls, and get set up in about 10 minutes.
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