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Taking a season off: what to turn off and what to leave on

You'll come out of your break knowing which line to turn off before you go, which one to leave on because it's still true, and what the notice should say so no one has to message you to ask.

By Yodai · Published on September 6, 2026 · Updated on October 12, 2026

6 min read

Changing one line on your website while you're still open is simple. This question is bigger, because you won't be there. You're taking three weeks of vacation. Or closing the shop for a month for renovations. Or you just need to stop, without knowing yet when you'll be back. The first thing almost everyone thinks is "I'll turn off the website until I'm back." That's the mistake that comes up most, and it's costly: shutting down the whole site erases you right where the customers you could still serve, even with the shop closed, are looking for you.

The slow season doesn't turn you into a different business: you're still you, just with fewer hours. Stopping is different. Stopping means that, for a while, part of what you offer isn't available at all. The question isn't whether you turn off the website or leave it as is. It's which lines you take down, because you won't be delivering on them those weeks, and which ones you leave up, because they're still true even while you're away.

What to turn off first

Turn off every line that's a promise about time. "We respond within 24 hours," "openings this week," a booking calendar open for dates when you won't be around. If the calendar stays open and someone books a Tuesday when nobody's there, that's on you: your page said it was available, and the person trusted that.

Turn off any seasonal offer that's no longer running, the discounted price that expired last week, and the "available now" on a product you won't ship until you're back. You don't need to touch the rest of the page for this. It's one line, sometimes just a word, and you change it right on the same listing where you edit the price or the hours.

What stays on

Whatever doesn't expire stays on. Who you are and what you do doesn't depend on whether you're on vacation: that description is still true the day someone searches for you on Google on a Sunday in August, and nobody needs to touch it.

If you sell a multi-session package and it's still valid, keep it up for sale: you charge now, deliver when you're back, and you say so clearly so nobody gets confused. If you run a store with products that still ship even while your physical location is closed, that part of the website stays exactly as it is, with photos, prices, and the buy button active. Turning that off would also be a mistake, just the opposite kind: losing sales you could still be making, only because you happen not to be behind the counter.

WhatsApp gives notice too, not just your homepage

If whoever messages you on WhatsApp gets an automatic reply while no one's reading it, that reply needs the same notice as your homepage, not a different one. If it says "we'll get back to you shortly" and you've been away for four days, the person waits a reasonable amount of time and then gets annoyed, rightly so.

Update your auto-reply at the same time you update your homepage banner, with the same date: in the WhatsApp Business app, that's the away message. It's the same change, in two places, and it needs to happen at the same time: if you put it off, you'll forget, because once you're away, you stop checking in on the business.

An open-ended pause forces you to turn off the most lines

Situation	What to turn off	What to leave on
A two- or three-week vacation	The booking calendar and the "openings this week"	Your business description, active packages, and the store if it's still shipping
Renovations at your location	Your address as though it were open for visits, and in-person appointments	Any house-call or video-call services still running, and your catalog
Medical leave with no return date	Any timeframe: "within 24 hours," "this week," "I'll get back to you soon"	A note on who's covering things in the meantime, if anyone, and what's on hold
Seasonal closure until spring	The price and offer for the season that's ending	The full listing for when you reopen, and packages that don't expire

How to say it without sounding like you've shut down for good

A pause notice needs three pieces of information and nothing more: starting when, until when, and what still works in the meantime. If you don't know the exact date you'll be back, medical leave, for example, put the date you'll update the notice, not a made-up return date.

Language like "we're reorganizing our service" or "you'll hear from us soon" says nothing, and forces the customer to write in and ask, which is exactly the contact the notice was supposed to avoid.

The notice, exactly as you'd write it on your homepage

From August 10 to August 24, there's no in-person service. Packages you've already bought are still valid and can be scheduled starting August 25. If you message us on WhatsApp during this time, you'll get a reply starting August 25, not before.

When to update the notice, not just what it says

One week before you stopClose the booking calendar for those dates and turn on the notice on your homepage and WhatsApp.
The first day of the pauseThe notice stays visible on your homepage and on every listing that had active bookings.
During the pauseThe rest of the website stays the same: your description, photos, and active packages don't change.
The day you're backYou reopen the booking calendar and take down the notice that same day, not the following week.

The costly mistake: leaving the door half open

Turning off the whole website is a mistake, but leaving the booking calendar untouched is worse. The customer books, pays the deposit if your listing charges upfront, and the day comes with no one there to help them. If your page charges at booking, closing the calendar isn't a small detail: it's the first thing you change before you leave, even before you pack your bag.

What you walk away with

The booking calendar and any timeframes get turned off before you leave, not the day you're already gone.
Your business description, active packages, and the store that's still shipping stay on.
Your WhatsApp auto-reply carries the same notice as your homepage, with the same date.
The day you get back, the notice comes down and the calendar reopens, nothing left up longer than it needs to be.

Test yourself

Answer before opening each one. If one gives you trouble, go back to the section that explains it.

1. You're closing your hair salon for two weeks of vacation, but you're still selling color packages over WhatsApp that get booked for when you return. What do you do with the packages page?

You leave it up for sale: the package doesn't expire during those two weeks, so it's still real income. You only turn off the calendar for in-person appointments, not the whole page.

2. You're out on medical leave and you don't know if you'll be back in two weeks or two months. Do you put a return date on the notice?

No, not unless you actually know it. Put the date you'll check in and update the notice instead. A made-up date that doesn't hold up does more harm than not giving one at all.

3. Your online store keeps shipping orders even though your physical location is closed for renovations. Do you turn off the catalog while the renovation is going on?

No. The renovation affects in-person visits, not shipping. Turn off the address as a place to visit, and leave the catalog, prices, and buy button exactly as they were.

Yodai builds the site from what you tell it, with a store, bookings or quote requests depending on what you do. See what the website for your business looks like.

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