Update Your Hours, Holidays & Availability
Your business hours live in more than one place: on Google (where customers check if you're open), and in your booking calendar (which controls when appointments can be booked). Keeping them accurate — especially around holidays — protects you from frustrated customers standing at a locked door. Here's how each one gets updated, and what to know about timing.
The simplest path for any of these: tell us the new hours and we'll make the changes. The rest of this article explains what happens where, for clients who like to know or prefer to do it themselves.
Regular Business Hours on Google
Your Google Business Profile hours are what customers see on Google Search and Maps. If your standard weekly hours change (new closing time, now open Saturdays, closed Mondays):
- Easiest: send us the new weekly schedule and we'll update it.
- Timing to know: changes made through your marketing platform can take 24 to 48 hours to appear on Google. If a change is urgent, editing directly in your Google Business Profile shows up within about 15 to 30 minutes.
If Google ever shows hours you didn't set, that's usually a "suggested edit" from a user — Google sometimes applies these. Tell us and we'll correct it and dismiss the suggestion.
Holiday and Special Hours
Holiday hours (closed on Thanksgiving, half-day on Christmas Eve) are set separately from your weekly hours, as special hours on specific dates in Google Business Profile. Two practices make this painless:
- Set them at least 2 weeks ahead of each holiday, so customers planning around the date see the right information.
- Do a full-year pass each January: set all your major holiday closures in one sitting. Google accepts special hours up to about 6 months in advance, so a January pass plus a mid-year top-up covers the year.
Send us your holiday schedule once and we'll maintain it — including the easy-to-forget ones like the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. If your business observes local or religious holidays Google doesn't suggest, those can be added as custom dates.
Your Booking Calendar Availability
Changing your Google hours does not change when customers can book appointments — your booking calendar has its own availability settings. You control these completely: business hours, lunch breaks, buffer time, days off.
So when your schedule changes, think in pairs:
| Change | Update Google hours | Update booking availability |
|---|---|---|
| New weekly schedule | Yes | Yes |
| Closed for a holiday | Yes (special hours) | Yes (block the date) |
| Vacation or personal day | Usually no | Yes (block the dates) |
| Lunch break or buffer changes | No | Yes |
For a vacation, blocking your booking calendar is the critical one — it's what prevents a customer from booking an appointment while you're away. Tell us the dates and we'll block them, or block them yourself in your calendar settings.
Quick Reference: Where and How Fast
| What | Where it changes | How fast it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly hours | Google Business Profile (via us or directly) | 24–48 hrs via platform; ~30 min direct |
| Holiday hours | Google Business Profile special hours | ~15–30 minutes |
| Booking availability | Your calendar settings | Immediately |
Key Takeaways
- Hours live in two places: Google (what customers see) and your booking calendar (what they can book). Update both.
- Set holiday hours at least 2 weeks ahead; better yet, set the whole year each January.
- Fastest path for everything: send us the new schedule and consider it handled.
Need a change made? See How to Get Support — include the dates and times, and we'll take it from there.