Holiday Hours: How to Show Special Opening Hours on Google and Facebook

Every public holiday, the same scenario plays out: Google shows “Hours might differ” on your profile, customers hesitate, call… or go to the competitor who confirmed their hours. Here’s how to handle holidays properly, and how to schedule them once and for all.

Why Google shows “Hours might differ”

When a holiday approaches, Google doesn’t know whether you keep your usual hours. Until you confirm, it adds this warning, which erodes customer confidence — and the likelihood that they’ll actually come. Confirming your hours removes the warning and improves your local visibility: Google rewards complete, up-to-date profiles.

Setting special hours on Google

Open your Business Profile (search for your business while signed in to the manager account).
“Edit profile” → “Hours” → “Special hours”.
Add the date: closed all day, or a reduced time slot.
Save. The warning disappears and the profile shows, for example, “Dec 25: 9am – 1pm”.

Google pre-fills the list of national public holidays: review them at least two weeks in advance — that’s also how much notice customers need to plan.

And on Facebook?

Facebook has no special-hours feature: you either have to temporarily change the page’s hours (and remember to change them back…) or publish an announcement post. This is exactly the kind of double data entry that creates inconsistencies between platforms — and 70% of consumers say they have already given up on visiting a business because of contradictory information online.

The dates to anticipate

Fixed dates: January 1st, Christmas Day, national holidays, and any local observances relevant to your area.
Moving dates: Easter Monday, Ascension, late-spring bank holidays, Thanksgiving weekend… depending on your country.
The “traps”: holiday eves (December 24th and 31st), long weekends, and your own annual summer closure.

Schedule the whole year at once

With Horair, you define your special hours once — for the whole year if you like: closed on December 25th, half-day on the 24th, summer break… Each date is propagated automatically to your Google profile, your Facebook page and your website right on schedule. You can also program a seasonal hours change (summer/winter hours) that applies all by itself.

No more sticky note saying “remember to update the Google profile before the holiday”. Schedule your special hours with Horair — and enjoy your holidays too.