Christmas out of office message: let AI draft it, you approve it
A quick tip for getting your festive auto-reply and Google opening hours sorted in one sitting, using AI for the wording and Google's own tool for the dates.
If you're closing over Christmas, now is the time to sort it, before customers start asking. A good Christmas out of office message small business owners can set up in ten minutes has two parts: the wording, and the places it needs to appear.
Start with the wording. Ask an AI assistant to draft a short, friendly auto-reply for email: the dates you're closed, the day you're back, and who to contact if it's urgent. Ask for two or three versions in your own tone, then pick one and edit it. Don't paste in customer names or private details, and always read it yourself before it goes live.
Next, tell Google. Google's help pages explain that you can set special hours on your Business Profile for holidays. Choose Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours, pick each date and mark it open or closed. Special hours show only on the dates you set, and your regular hours stay the same. Google recommends confirming hours even for bank holidays when they match your usual ones. It covers closures of up to six days in a row; for longer breaks, use the "Temporarily closed" setting instead. Google reviews changes before they go live, so check your profile after saving.
Finally, post the same dates on your website and social pages so everything matches.
What this means for your business
Let AI do the first draft of the wording, but keep the dates and the final say with you. Ten minutes now saves missed calls and confused customers later. If your website needs a holiday notice, see our services.
Source: Google Business Profile Help, accessed 29 October 2026. This is our own summary; read the original for the full story.