How to Update Your Holiday Hours on Google, Yelp, Facebook and Apple Maps

Update your holiday hours on Google, Yelp, Facebook and Apple Maps about two weeks before each holiday, then check them again the day before. A customer who drives to a closed shop on Thanksgiving rarely gives you a second chance, and most people check Google or Maps before they leave home.

This guide gives you the dates to plan for this season, the steps for each platform, and the other places your hours may be showing wrong. It takes about 30 minutes for one location.

Dates to plan for this season

These are the US days when opening hours most often change. Set the hours at least two weeks ahead, using the last column as your deadline.

Add your own days too: a staff event, a stock-take, or an early close before a long weekend. Anything that differs from your normal week belongs on this list.

Google Business Profile

Google’s special hours override your normal hours for the dates you choose, then your regular hours return on their own. Per Google’s own help page, the steps are:

1. Go to your Business Profile at business.google.com.
2. Select Edit profile, then Hours.
3. Next to Special hours, select the pencil (edit) icon.
4. Pick a date. Accept one Google suggests, or select Add a date and enter your own.
5. If you are open, untick Closed and enter the opening and closing times. If you are shut, leave Closed ticked.
6. Select Save.

Good to know before you start:

• Your regular hours must say “Open with main hours”. Google states that special hours only show if this is set.
• Special hours suit changes of six days in a row or fewer. For a longer break, or when you do not know the end date, Google recommends marking the business as temporarily closed instead.
• Overnight hours need two entries. One set of special hours cannot run past 24 hours, so split a late close across two dates.
• Two sessions in one day are fine. Select More, then Add hours for a lunch break or a split shift.
• Many locations? Use the spreadsheet. Google accepts special hours in a bulk spreadsheet import, written as 2026-11-26: 09:00-14:00, with x for a closed day.

Google’s page does not say how quickly a change goes live, so do not leave it to the last day. After you save, search for your business on Google and in Maps and confirm the holiday date shows what you entered. For more ways to get the most from your profile, see our Google Business Profile tips.

Yelp

Yelp lets you add special hours one day at a time from your Yelp for Business account. You need to be logged in as the business owner. If you have not claimed your Yelp page yet, do that first. Per Yelp’s guide to holiday and special hours:

1. Log in to Yelp for Business on desktop, or open the Yelp for Business app.
2. Go to the Business Information tab (called Biz Info in the app).
3. Scroll to Operation hours and select Add special hours.
4. Choose one of the suggested holidays, or add a custom day.
5. For each day, confirm you are open as usual, enter your open period or periods, or mark the business closed all day.
6. Select Save.
7. Check that your regular hours are still correct while you are there.

Special hours are set day by day, so add every date that differs from your normal week: for example, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are three separate entries. You can edit them later under Upcoming special hours.

Yelp’s guide does not say how fast a saved change appears, so open your Yelp page in a private browser window afterwards and read the hours as a customer would.

Facebook

Facebook is the odd one out: as far as we could confirm, a Facebook Page has no separate holiday-hours setting. You change your regular hours for the holiday, then change them back afterwards. Write the change-back date in your calendar now, because a Page that keeps showing Thanksgiving hours in December costs you customers too.

The steps depend on whether you work on a computer or in the app.

On a computer

1. Open your Facebook Page and select Edit at the top right, or go to Page settings and open Page info.
2. Select Edit next to Hours.
3. Choose a status: Open on selected hours, Always open, Temporarily closed, Permanently closed or No hours available.
4. Adjust the hours for each day that changes, then select Save.
5. Put a reminder in your calendar to restore your normal hours.

In the Facebook app

1. Tap the menu, then switch to the Page you manage.
2. Open the Page’s About section and scroll to See all About.
3. Tap Add hours or Edit hours.
4. Edit your schedule, using Open on selected hours, Always open or Temporarily closed as needed.
5. Tap Save, then set your restore reminder.

For a one-day holiday, change that day’s hours to your holiday hours. Use Temporarily closed only for a longer break, and switch back when you reopen.

If you do not see an Hours section, you may need to change your Page category.

Because the hours field cannot show a date range, also post the holiday schedule as a normal update and pin it to the top of the Page. That covers the customers who read your posts and not your info box.

Apple Maps (Apple Business)

Apple Maps hours are managed in Apple Business, the free tool Apple’s older help pages call Apple Business Connect. Apple supports temporary special hours, including holidays, with a start and end date. Per Apple’s guide to editing locations and location attributes:

1. Sign in to Apple Business with a user who can manage locations.
2. In your browser, go to Brands, then Locations.
3. Search for the location and select it, then select Info.
4. Find the special hours for temporary changes, including holidays, and set a start date and an end date for a day or a range of days.
5. For a part-day change, enter only the hours you are open. For a full closure, add the day and mark it closed.
6. Check the place card preview, which shows how the hours will look to customers, then select Save.

Apple adds one rule worth following everywhere: whenever possible, the hours on your place card should match the hours published on your official website. Update your website at the same time.

Apple’s guides do not say how long a change takes to appear in Apple Maps, and some businesses report delays, so set these hours earlier than the others. Look your business up in Apple Maps on an iPhone or Mac afterwards to confirm.

Other places that show your hours

Google, Yelp, Facebook and Apple are the big four, but customers also meet your hours in places you may not have touched in a year. Check these too:

• Your own website. The contact page, the footer, any store locator and the banner. Apple asks that your listing match your site, and customers trust a site over a directory.
• Bing Places. Bing and tools that use its data can show your hours. Sign in and look for the special hours option on your listing.
• Directories and data providers. Yellow Pages, Foursquare, local chamber of commerce pages and industry sites each keep their own copy. Many of them copy hours from the same data providers and may never see your holiday change.
• Delivery and booking apps. If you take orders through a third-party app, set the holiday hours there as well, or customers will order when you are closed.
• Social profiles. Instagram, LinkedIn and Nextdoor often hold hours in a bio or about section.
• Your phone greeting and email auto-reply. Update the voicemail and the out-of-office message so they say the same thing.

This is where most holiday mistakes happen. The big platforms are easy to update, but a forgotten directory can show last year’s hours for months. It is one reason a Google profile alone is not enough: customers and AI assistants read your details from many sources, and they need to agree, which is what NAP consistency means. If you run several locations, or you are unsure how many places list your business, our local citation building services can find and manage them for you.

What if your hours are wrong anyway?

You can set everything correctly and still find wrong hours online. Customers and other users can suggest edits to a Google or Apple listing, and old data from directories can overwrite a good listing. Here is how to catch and fix it:

1. Search your business name on Google, Google Maps and Apple Maps, on a phone. Read the hours for each holiday date.
2. Look for a pending or changed edit. In your Google Business Profile, check for notices about suggested changes, and reject any that are wrong.
3. Correct the source. Fix the hours in the platform where they are wrong, using the steps above, rather than reporting the error and waiting.
4. Check the copies. If a directory keeps showing old hours, update that listing directly, or fix the data source it copies from.
5. Re-check the day before each holiday, and again on the morning of it.

Our guide to finding and fixing incorrect local citations covers the longer job of cleaning up listings that keep going wrong.

Holiday hours checklist

Copy this list for each location and tick it off.

• ☐ Write down the hours for every holiday date, including closed days.
• ☐ Google Business Profile: special hours saved, main hours set to “Open with main hours”.
• ☐ Yelp: special hours added for each date.
• ☐ Facebook: holiday hours entered, pinned post published, reminder set to change back.
• ☐ Apple Business: special hours set with start and end dates, place card previewed.
• ☐ Bing Places and other directories updated.
• ☐ Website, delivery apps, social bios, voicemail and email auto-reply updated.
• ☐ Searched your business on Google, Google Maps and Apple Maps on a phone.
• ☐ Re-checked the day before each holiday.
• ☐ Restored normal hours everywhere after the holiday.

Common questions

How far ahead can I set holiday hours on Google?

Google’s help page does not give a limit, so set them as soon as you know your plans, ideally two weeks or more before the day. Then search for your business to confirm the date shows correctly.

What if I am closed for more than a few days?

Google’s special hours are meant for changes of up to six days in a row. For a longer closure, or one with no end date, mark the business as temporarily closed instead.

Do I have to update every platform separately?

For the big four, yes: each has its own account and its own screen. A listing management service or a bulk spreadsheet can save time if you have many locations (see our multi-location local SEO checklist), but the hours still need to reach each platform.

Why does my business show the wrong hours even after I updated them?

Usually one of three things: the change has not gone live yet, someone suggested a different edit, or another site is copying old data. Work through the checks in the section above, and fix the source of the wrong hours rather than only the copy.

How do I change the hours back after the holiday?

Google, Yelp and Apple return to your regular hours on their own once the special-hours dates pass. Facebook does not, so set a reminder to restore your normal hours yourself.

Let us keep your listings right

Updating four platforms is quick. Keeping dozens of listings accurate all year is the part that takes time, especially with several locations. Citations Check finds where your business is listed, corrects the details that do not match, and keeps them consistent. Contact us for a free look at your listings, or see our local SEO services if you want help getting found on Google and Maps.