How to Handle Business Calls While on Holiday: 5 Options

See also: Handling Calls Outside Business Hours | Virtual Secretary for Mobile Phone

TL;DR: The best way to handle business calls while on holiday depends on whether someone can cover for you. You have five options: a greeting with your return date on carrier voicemail, forwarding to a stand-in colleague, Heilo voicemail with a holiday greeting and text alerts, an out-of-office email with special hours on Google, or an answering service. If nobody covers for you, the simplest choice is voicemail with a holiday greeting, and you check urgent matters in the text alerts.

What to Decide Before You Leave

Decide who handles urgent matters, and whether you want to be reachable at all.
Pick the return date you give callers, and stick to it.
Check where callers' messages will land and who will review them.
Write down how you will undo the changes when you return: the greeting, the forwarding and the notifications.

Option 1: Carrier Voicemail With a Holiday Message

Record a greeting with your return date and, if someone covers for you, their number. The advantage is that you change nothing in your forwarding. The downside is that you listen to messages one by one and cannot see them as text. Check the cost and availability of the mailbox in your plan.

Option 2: Forward to a Colleague or Stand-In

Use your carrier's forwarding settings: on many mobile networks **21*number# forwards all calls and **61*number# only unanswered ones, but carriers (especially in the US) use their own codes, so check your carrier's instructions. The downside is that the stand-in has to know your clients and keep a list of the most important ones. Our guide to setting up call forwarding walks through the steps.

Do you have a Heilo Line number? In the dashboard you can name the stand-in's phone as the phone Heilo connects inbound calls to; if the stand-in does not answer, the caller goes to voicemail. Heilo records calls through the business number the same way as yours.

Option 3: Heilo Voicemail With a Holiday Greeting

With Heilo Voicemail, your carrier forwards unanswered calls to Heilo, and the caller hears your greeting and leaves a message. Heilo does not talk to the caller and does not judge which matter is urgent: you decide. Each message lands in the dashboard with a recording, a transcript and a summary. With notifications turned on, you get a text with the caller's details, the topic and a link.

Before you leave, change the number's standard greeting in the dashboard to a holiday greeting. You record it in your own voice or type a text that Heilo reads out.
If the phone should not ring at all, switch forwarding to all calls (**21* with the Heilo number, where your carrier uses that code), and restore forwarding of unanswered calls (**61*) when you return.
Turn on the notification for voicemail messages left. The text can go to your number or to another mobile number verified with a code, for example a stand-in's.
Optionally, set a text to the caller after they leave a message (your own wording, for example the return date and an email address); see the guide to automatic text after a missed call.
When you return, restore the usual greeting.

The greeting schedule works by weekday and hour, not by date, so you cannot schedule a change in advance for a specific day. On a Heilo Line number, instead of a carrier code you can set the call handling mode in the dashboard to "Voicemail" for the duration of your holiday.

Example greeting: "Hello, this is [company]. I'm on vacation until [date]. Please leave your name, number and a short description, and I'll call you back when I return. For urgent matters, please call [name] on [number]."

Option 4: Out-of-Office Email and Google Business Profile Hours

Set an automatic reply in your email with your return date and a contact for urgent matters. In your Google Business Profile, set special opening hours for the time you are away: Google's help page describes special hours for holidays and other exceptional days (checked 20 October 2026). Tell regular clients before you leave.

Option 5: Answering Service

A person answers calls live, following your instructions. The price depends on hours and call volume, so ask for a quote. You also need to prepare instructions for the agents. For a sense of costs, see how much an answering service costs.

Which Option to Choose

For a short holiday with no stand-in, choose voicemail with a holiday greeting and email your regular clients.
For a longer holiday, do the same and add a stand-in whose number receives the texts about new messages.
If you have a front desk, forward calls to the stand-in.

For evenings and weekends when you are not on holiday, see handling calls outside business hours.

What Does It Cost?

Heilo Voicemail covers messages left after missed calls: the recording, text, summary and text notification. Billing is monthly, and VAT is added at payment. The fair-use limit is 500 minutes of recordings per number per calendar month; it is informational and does not block calls. Carrier charges for forwarded calls are separate. The solution is described on the business voicemail page. If you also want to record calls you answer, there are the Heilo Select and Heilo Line plans; all prices are on the pricing page.

Verified: 20 October 2026

FAQ

How do I switch to a holiday greeting and back?

In the Heilo dashboard, change the number's standard greeting before you leave and switch it back when you return. The greeting schedule works by weekday and hour, not by date.

What about clients who want to book appointments?

Read out an email address in the greeting, because nobody can note down a link by ear. Put the booking link (for example Calendly) in the text Heilo sends the caller after they leave a message; you set that message in the dashboard, and the automatic text guide has examples. We do not guarantee delivery of the text.

Will Heilo answer the phone and talk to the client for me?

No. Heilo plays the greeting and records the message. It does not answer questions or book appointments.