How to Set Holiday Hours on Google Business Profile
How to set holiday hours on Google Business Profile, step by step: Thanksgiving to New Year dates, the 6-day rule and how to check them. Set yours today.
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To set holiday hours on Google Business Profile, open your profile and go to Edit profile, then Hours. Add Special hours for each date, either "Closed" or the hours you will actually keep. Google shows those hours on that date only, and your regular week stays as it is (Google Business Profile Help: How to set special hours).
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, 2026, so do this week. If Google still shows your old hours after you save, our guide to Google Business Profile not updating hours takes you through the diagnosis step by step. New guides by email, the day they come out: get it free.
How to add special hours, step by step
These are the steps on Google's help page for special hours:
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile, and open the profile.
- Select Edit profile, then Hours.
- Find Special hours and select the edit icon next to it.
- Pick a date from the list or add your own.
- Tick Closed, or enter your opening and closing times for that day.
- Select Save.
Source: How to set special hours.
You can do this ahead of the holiday. Special hours only change the dates you pick. Your normal week doesn't change.
Google Business Profile holiday hours: what to set and when
Most guides stop at the clicks. The harder part is deciding which dates you need. Here is the 2026 season, checked against the calendar:
| Date | Day | Who usually needs to set it |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving, Nov 26 | Thursday | Almost everyone: closed or short hours |
| Black Friday, Nov 27 | Friday | Shops and salons with longer hours; offices and trades that close |
| Christmas Eve, Dec 24 | Thursday | Anyone closing early |
| Christmas Day, Dec 25 | Friday | Almost everyone |
| New Year's Eve, Dec 31 | Thursday | Restaurants and bars open late; others closing early |
| New Year's Day, Jan 1, 2027 | Friday | Almost everyone |
What you need depends on the kind of business:
- Restaurants and cafés: put your main opening hours in special hours. Delivery, takeout, drive through and pickup times have their own setting. Google calls it More hours, and it's separate from special hours.
- Trades and home services (plumbers, roofers, HVAC): if you take emergency calls on a holiday, don't mark the day "Closed". Enter the hours you really answer the phone. A customer with a burst pipe on Christmas Day calls whoever shows as open.
- Practices (dentists, physios, accountants): many close the whole week between Christmas and New Year. Read about the 6-day limit below before you add those dates one by one.
- Salons and barbers: hours are often longer or shorter than usual on Black Friday and Christmas Eve. Set those days even if the change is only an hour.
Confirm the holidays where nothing changes
Google says it's a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays, even if they're the same as your regular hours (How to set special hours). Under Special hours, select the holiday and save your usual times. That way the hours on your profile are confirmed for that day, not just copied from your normal week.
Closed for a week or more? The 6-day limit
Special hours cover changes or closures of up to 6 days in a row (How to set special hours). For longer breaks, Google's page on closing a business says to use Temporarily closed if you're closed for more than 7 days, for the off-season, or with no reopening date (Mark your business as closed). The two pages don't agree on exactly 7 days: the closing page says special hours work for 7 days or less, the special hours page says 6. Since special hours stop at 6 on their own page, Temporarily closed is the safer choice for a 7-day break.
Owners often get this wrong in late December. A practice that closes from Dec 24 to Jan 3 is closed for 11 days, so it should use Temporarily closed. Then it marks the business reopened on the day it opens again (Mark your business as reopened). Put that reopening date in your calendar now. If you forget, customers will think you're still closed.
Holiday dates done? The next useful fix for your profile is probably in a guide we haven't published yet. Get new guides by email, the day they come out.
Several locations
If you manage several locations, you can set special hours for all of them with a spreadsheet. Google's special hours page gives the format for the Special hours column: one date per entry, followed by the hours, with "x" for a day you're closed all day. For this season that looks like 2026-11-26: 10:00-14:00, or 2026-12-25: x. Then import the file with Google's bulk import process. Check one location by hand afterwards to make sure the import worked.
Check what customers actually see
Saving isn't the last step. Once your dates are in:
- Search your business name on Google in a private window and look at the hours for the holiday date.
- Open Google Maps on your phone and do the same.
- Compare them with your website, your Facebook page and any directory where you list your hours. If they don't match, customers can't tell which hours are right. Our Google Business Profile checklist covers how to keep your profile and your site in line.
Special hours are tied to the dates you pick. Next year you'll set them again for the new dates, so put a reminder in your calendar for early November.
FAQ
How far in advance can I set holiday hours on Google Business Profile? Google's help page doesn't give a limit. You add the date ahead of time and the special hours apply on that day. Doing it a few weeks early gives you time to check that they show on Search and Maps.
Do special hours repeat every year? No. They're tied to the dates you choose, so plan to set or confirm them again each season.
Can I set Thanksgiving hours on Google Business Profile from my phone? Yes. Sign in with the account that manages the profile, open it, then go to Edit profile and Hours.
What if I'm closed for two weeks over Christmas? Special hours only cover up to 6 days in a row. For a longer closure, mark the business Temporarily closed, then mark it reopened on the day you're back.
What to do today
- Add special hours for Thanksgiving (Nov 26) and Black Friday (Nov 27).
- Add Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and confirm the ones where your hours don't change.
- If you're closing for longer than 6 days in a row, plan to mark the business Temporarily closed and set a reminder for the day you reopen.
- Restaurants: check your delivery and takeout times under More hours.
- Check the result on Google Search and Maps, then put the same hours on your website.
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