What Are Special Hours on a Google Business Profile?
Special hours are date-specific opening hours that override a business’s regular weekly hours on Google Search and Maps for the days you choose, without changing the regular schedule.
Google’s help page describes them as the tool “When your hours of operation change for a brief period of time, like for a special event,” so “your regular hours don’t change” (Google Business Profile Help). They sit alongside two other hours tools. More hours cover services with their own times, such as delivery or takeout (Google Business Profile Help). Temporarily closed is a status for longer shutdowns (Google Business Profile Help).
Hours are reputation, not just logistics. A customer who arrives at a locked door on a holiday is a likely one-star review, and our guide to responding to Google reviews starts from the point that prevention is cheaper than a reply. Hours are also among the first facts Google shows for a branded search, which is why we treat the profile as part of a company’s search footprint in our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile.
How to Set Holiday Hours at a Glance
| Step | Action | Expected result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | List every date and location affected through New Year’s Day | One written schedule for the season |
| 2 | Confirm regular hours are “Open with main hours” | Special hours are able to display |
| 3 | Open Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours | Google’s suggested holiday dates appear |
| 4 | Enter hours or tick Closed for each date, then save | Each date shows its own hours on Search and Maps |
| 5 | Handle overnight and split shifts correctly | No set longer than 24 hours; breaks shown |
| 6 | Bulk-upload special hours for many locations | Every location updated from one spreadsheet |
| 7 | Use Temporarily closed for a week or more | Profile shows a temporary closure, not odd hours |
Time: about 10 minutes for one location and the full season; longer for a bulk sheet. Tools: a Google account with access to the profile, or Business Profile Manager for several locations. Cost: free. Skill level: beginner.
What You Need Before Starting
You need access to the Business Profile as an owner or manager, the final holiday schedule for every location, and regular hours already set. If the profile is not verified or you are not a manager, start with our setup guide.
- A signed-off schedule. Agree the hours with operations first. Changing them twice confuses customers, and Google posts a notice each time (see Step 4).
- Regular hours, not “no main hours.” Google’s hours page offers “Open with main hours” or “Open with no main hours” (Google Business Profile Help). Special hours need the first.
- A check that your business type should show hours at all. Google’s guidelines say businesses with varied schedules, or that “operate only by appointment,” shouldn’t provide hours, and list hotels, schools, movie theaters and event venues as examples (Google Business Profile Help).
- Store codes, for multi-location brands. The bulk method in Step 6 matches rows to locations by store code.
Step 1: List Every Date and Location Affected
Write down every date between now and New Year’s Day on which any location opens late, closes early or closes, and include the holidays on which you keep normal hours. Google recommends the second part: it is “a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays, even if they’re the same as your regular hours,” because “This makes it clear to customers that your special hours are accurate” (Google Business Profile Help).
Use Google’s own holiday list as the checklist. Its page says that on listed holidays “a warning may appear on your Business Profile that tells users your business hours might differ,” and that you can set special hours in advance for those dates (Google Business Profile Help). The US list for the rest of 2026 includes Veterans Day on November 11, Thanksgiving on November 26, Black Friday on November 27, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2027, plus state holidays such as Boxing Day in North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
Step 2: Confirm Regular Hours Are Set to “Open With Main Hours”
Open Edit profile, then Hours, and make sure the business is set to “Open with main hours” with a time for each open day. Google’s special hours page makes this a precondition: without main hours, special hours do not display (Google Business Profile Help). If the regular hours are wrong, fix them first; special hours only override them on the dates you name.
Seasonal businesses have a specific rule. Google’s guidelines say that during the season you should set your regular hours and “may set special hours for holidays, temporary closures, or other events,” and that during the off-season “you can mark your business as temporarily closed” (Google Business Profile Help).
Step 3: Open Special Hours
Go to your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, and next to “Special hours” in the “Business hours” section, select Edit. These are Google’s steps (Google Business Profile Help). Google may show suggested dates. Its page gives three ways in: “To confirm suggested date: Select Review,” “To set a custom date: Select Add a date,” and to change one already entered, select the existing date.
Use Add a date for anything Google does not suggest, such as a company shutdown day or a December 26 that is not a holiday in your state.
Step 4: Enter the Hours or Mark the Day Closed, Then Save
For each date, either untick “Closed” and enter the opening and closing times, or leave “Closed” ticked if you are shut all day, then select Save. Google’s page also covers the edge cases: to add more than one set of hours for a date, select More, then Add hours; to delete special hours for a closed day, select Delete next to the date; for an open day, select More, then Remove day (Google Business Profile Help).
Days from October 31, 2026 (our arithmetic from the dates Google lists)
Source: Google Business Profile Help, “About holidays on Google” (US list). Read October 31, 2026. Day counts are Media Morpheus Research arithmetic.
Ordered by date, not size. Google’s US list also carries state holidays, such as Boxing Day on December 26 (NC, SC, TX) and state entries on November 27 such as Georgia’s State Holiday and Washington’s Native American Heritage Day, which are left out here. Google’s page does not say how far ahead of a date its “hours might differ” warning appears.
The chart shows seven nationally listed dates inside nine weeks, three of them in the four weeks of November, which is why we suggest entering the whole season in one sitting.
Saving has a visible side effect. Google says that after you update your hours, customers can find “A message that confirms your recent update” on the profile and, on mobile, “A post that confirms you made a change to your hours” in the Updates tab; you can edit that post to add detail or delete it to remove the message (Google Business Profile Help). It is our recommendation, not a Google rule, to use that post: add a line such as “Closed Thanksgiving Day, open 8 AM to 10 PM on Black Friday.”
Step 5: Handle Overnight Hours and Split Shifts
Break any opening that runs past midnight into two sets, one ending at midnight and one starting at midnight, and enter split shifts as two sets on the same date. Google says “A set of special hours can’t exceed 24 hours” and tells you to split such openings at midnight (Google Business Profile Help). Our example, in Google’s format, for a bar open from 7 PM on New Year’s Eve until 2 AM on New Year’s Day: 2026-12-31: 19:00-00:00, 2027-01-01: 00:00-02:00.
Watch the knock-on effect. Google says the second day’s regular hours are then ignored in favor of the special hours, so if you also open later that second day, you must enter those hours again as special hours (Google Business Profile Help). That catches out late-night venues on New Year’s Eve.
Step 6: Bulk-Upload Special Hours for Many Locations
For more than a handful of locations, put the dates in the “Special hours” column of the bulk upload spreadsheet and import it in Business Profile Manager. Google’s format is YYYY-MM-DD: HH:MM-HH:MM in 24-hour time or with AM and PM, with an “x” for an all-day closure and a comma between sets (Google Business Profile Help). Our example for this season, in that format, closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas, opens long hours on Black Friday and splits Christmas Eve into two sets:
2026-11-26: x, 2026-11-27: 07:00-22:00, 2026-12-24: 09:00-12:00, 2026-12-24: 13:00-16:00, 2026-12-25: xOne warning on that page is worth reading twice. If you are only adding special hours, “you can include only the store code and special hours columns”; but “If you include empty columns or columns with headings but no information beneath them, existing information for those columns will be erased” (Google Business Profile Help). Strip the sheet down to those two columns before you import.
Step 7: Use Temporarily Closed for a Week or More
If a location closes for a week or longer over the holidays, mark it Temporarily closed instead of entering a run of closed special-hours days. Go to Edit profile, then Hours, select Edit next to “Hours” and choose Temporarily closed, then Save (Google Business Profile Help). Remember to reopen it: the status stays until you change it.
Google’s own pages disagree on the exact cut-off. The table is our side-by-side reading of the two, on October 31, 2026.
| Google page | Special hours | Temporarily closed | Exactly 7 days closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to set Special hours | “closed for up to 6 days in a row” | “closed for 7 or more days in a row” | Temporarily closed |
| Mark your business as closed | “closed for 7 days or less” | “closed for more than 7 days” | Special hours |
We suggest following the stricter special-hours page: six closed days or fewer, use special hours; seven or more, use Temporarily closed. Note the trade-off Google states: “For broad queries, temporarily-closed businesses can rank after open businesses” (Google Business Profile Help).
How to Verify It Worked
Search for the business by name on Google and open it in Google Maps, then check each holiday date in the hours panel.
- In the profile editor: Google says saved dates appear in the “Hours” tab of your business information or under “Special hours” in Edit profile (Google Business Profile Help).
- On Search and Maps: look at the week that contains the holiday; the special hours should replace the regular ones only on that date.
- On the Updates tab: check the automatic hours post reads the way you want, and edit it if not.
- After the holiday: confirm the regular hours are showing again. The help pages we read do not say how quickly changes appear, so check again a day after saving.
Our guide to reading Business Profile performance reports shows where calls and direction requests appear if you want to see holiday demand afterwards.
Common Problems and Fixes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Special hours do not show | Profile set to “Open with no main hours” | Switch to “Open with main hours” and set regular hours |
| “Hours might differ” warning on a holiday | No special hours entered for a listed holiday | Add the date, even if hours are normal |
| Next day’s hours vanished | An overnight set ran into the next date | Re-enter the second day’s later hours as special hours |
| Other fields wiped after a bulk upload | Empty columns in the spreadsheet | Re-upload with only store code and special hours columns |
| Location ranks lower after a long closure | Marked Temporarily closed | Reopen it in Hours as soon as it reopens |
| Customers see an automatic hours post | Google posts each hours change | Edit the post to explain, or delete it |
What Not to Do
Do not change your regular weekly hours for a holiday. Consequence: the wrong hours stay up after the holiday. Correction: use special hours, which apply only to the date.
Do not use a run of closed special-hours days for a two-week shutdown. Consequence: you go against Google’s guidance on longer closures. Correction: use Temporarily closed for seven or more days.
Do not upload a full spreadsheet with blank columns. Consequence: Google says existing information in those columns “will be erased.” Correction: send only store code and special hours.
Do not put holiday hours in the business name or description. Consequence: Google’s guidelines say unnecessary information in a business name “could result in the suspension of your Business Profile” (Google Business Profile Help). Correction: use special hours and, if needed, the update post.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add holiday hours to my Google Business Profile?
Open your Business Profile, select Edit profile, then Hours, then Edit next to Special hours. Pick the holiday date, enter the hours or leave Closed ticked, and select Save.
Why aren’t my special hours showing on Google?
Google says special hours only show when the business is set to “Open with main hours.” Set regular weekly hours first, then add the special hours again.
Should I set special hours if I am open normal hours on a holiday?
Yes. Google says it is a good idea to confirm hours for official holidays even if they match your regular hours, because on listed holidays a warning may tell users your hours might differ.
How long can special hours last?
Google’s special hours page says they are for closures of up to 6 days in a row, and a single set of hours can’t exceed 24 hours. Split overnight openings into two sets at midnight.
When should I mark my business temporarily closed instead?
For a closure of 7 or more days in a row, according to Google’s special hours page; its closure page puts the line at more than 7 days. We suggest Temporarily closed for 7 days or more.
Can I set holiday hours for many locations at once?
Yes. Use the Special hours column in Google’s bulk upload spreadsheet, with dates in YYYY-MM-DD format and “x” for closed days. Include only the store code and special hours columns.
Sources and Methodology
This guide is built from Google Business Profile Help pages on special hours, business hours, More hours, closures, holidays and the guidelines for representing a business, all read on October 31, 2026. The holiday dates come from Google’s US list on its holidays page; the day counts in the chart and the side-by-side table of closure thresholds are our own arithmetic and reading. Our suggestions on the update post and on following the six-day threshold are recommendations, not Google rules. We did not test how quickly changes appear on Search and Maps.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, How to set Special hours. Steps, 6-day limit, 24-hour sets, bulk format and warning, main-hours requirement, 7-day threshold. Read October 31, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, Edit your business hours. Main hours options and automatic hours-update post. Read October 31, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, About holidays on Google. Holiday warning and US holiday dates. Read October 31, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, Mark your business as closed. Temporarily closed steps, “more than 7 days” threshold, ranking note. Read October 31, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, How to set More hours. More hours for specific services. Read October 31, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google. Business types that shouldn’t list hours, seasonal hours, business name rule. Read October 31, 2026.