<!-- Source: https://docs.vinsi.ai/telephony/businessHours -->
# Business Hours & After-Hours Routing

Decide when your phones ring, and where callers go when you're closed — voicemail, an AI phone agent, or another queue.

Created: September 16, 2026

Updated: September 16, 2026

## Overview

Hours can be set in three places:

- **Main line** — your organization's business hours, used by the default number (and optionally by hunt groups and queues).
- **Hunt groups** — main hours, custom hours, or 24/7.
- **Call queues** — 24/7, organization hours, or custom hours.

All hours use your organization's time zone. Holidays aren't supported yet — change the hours or after-hours handling for closures.

## Set Your Time Zone

Go to **CRM → Admin → Team Settings → Time Zone** and choose your organization's time zone. If none is set, Pacific Time (America/Los\_Angeles) is used. The Business Hours section shows this time zone read-only.

## Main Line Hours

1. Go to **CRM → Admin → Phone Settings → Settings** and set a [Default Phone Number](https://docs.vinsi.ai/telephony/phoneNumbers#phoneNumbers-default).
2. Under **Business Hours**, turn on **Enforce business hours**.
3. Set **Start** and **End** (default 9:00–17:00). An end time earlier than the start runs overnight.
4. Tick the **Days** you're open (default Monday–Friday).
5. Choose **After-hours handling**. Changes save automatically ("Business hours saved").

### After-Hours Handling

| Option             | Setup                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **AI Phone Agent** | Pick the **After-hours AI Phone Agent**. After hours, the default number is handed to the agent, then back to your team when you open. If calls keep ringing your team after hours, click **Re-apply after-hours routing**. |
| **Voicemail**      | Click **Set Up Greeting** to create the after-hours greeting, then set who gets the messages in **Voicemail notification emails** (primary plus up to 10 CC). See [Voicemail](https://docs.vinsi.ai/telephony/voicemail).   |

## Hunt Group Hours

Open the group in **Phone Settings → Hunt Groups**, choose under **Business Hours**, and click Save:

- **Use main business hours** (default) — follows the main line's hours.
- **Custom hours for this group** — set Start, End, and Days, then **After hours, route to** **Voicemail** (the group's greeting) or **AI Phone Agent**.
- **Always ring (24/7)**.

The **AI Phone Agent** option for a hunt group only works when the group's number is your organization's default line. For other numbers, use Voicemail.

Set the group's greeting and **Notification email** in its Voicemail box. See [Hunt Groups](https://docs.vinsi.ai/telephony/huntGroups).

## Queue Hours

In the queue editor's **Business hours** section, set **Open** to:

- **24/7** (default)
- **Organization business hours**
- **Custom hours** — start, end, and days in your organization's time zone

Then choose **After hours, send callers to**: **Voicemail**, **An AI phone agent** (the agent needs a phone number), **Another queue**, or **Hang up**. Closed-queue callers skip the hold line and show as _After hours_ in reports. See [Call Queues](https://docs.vinsi.ai/telephony/queues).

## Comparison

|                | Main line     | Hunt group         | Queue                      |
| -------------- | ------------- | ------------------ | -------------------------- |
| Hours options  | On/off        | Main, custom, 24/7 | 24/7, organization, custom |
| Voicemail      | ✓             | ✓                  | ✓                          |
| AI phone agent | ✓             | Default line only  | ✓                          |
| Another queue  | —             | —                  | ✓                          |
| Hang up        | —             | —                  | ✓                          |
| Saves          | Automatically | Save button        | Save button                |

## Tips

- Mention your hours in the after-hours greeting so callers know when to call back.
- Place a test call just after closing time to confirm routing.
- Check the time zone first — most "wrong hours" problems are a time zone mismatch.