The festive season changes everyone's timings. Shops stay open late before Diwali. Clinics close for a day or two. Restaurants run special lunch hours. Coaching centres take a short break. The trouble is that Google keeps showing your regular hours unless you tell it otherwise, and a customer who drives across town to find you closed rarely comes back.
This is what special hours are for.
Regular hours vs special hours
- Regular hours are your normal weekly timings. Change these only if your routine is changing permanently.
- Special hours are one-off changes for specific dates: festivals, public holidays, a family function, stock-taking day. They override your regular hours on those dates only, then your normal timings come back automatically.
Using special hours means you don't have to remember to change everything back after the festival.
How to add special hours
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile and open your Business Profile on Google Search or Maps.
- Choose to edit your profile, then go to the hours section.
- Find "Special hours" and add the date.
- Set the timings for that day, or mark it as closed.
- Save. Repeat for each date that is different.
The exact layout of the editing screen changes from time to time, but special hours have stayed in the hours section of the profile editor. Google also sometimes shows a reminder to confirm your hours before major holidays. If you see it, take thirty seconds and answer it.
Dates to plan for this season
For 2026, the main festival dates in North India are:
- Dussehra: Tuesday, 20 October
- Karva Chauth: Thursday, 29 October
- Dhanteras: Friday, 6 November
- Diwali: Sunday, 8 November
- Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj: 10 and 11 November
Dates can vary by a day depending on the local panchang, so check with your own calendar. Then add special hours for every day your timings are different, and do it a few days in advance, because many people check Google the evening before they go out.
Tell customers in more than one place
Special hours fix the timings shown on Search and Maps. It also helps to:
- Publish a short Google post a few days before the festival with your festival timings.
- Share the same timings on WhatsApp Status and your social pages.
- Put a printed notice at your counter or door.
- Update your website if it lists timings.
Other timing details worth checking
- More hours: Google lets many categories add separate timings for things like delivery, takeaway, home visits or senior hours. If these change during the festival, update them too.
- Temporarily closed: only use this if you are actually shut for an extended period, such as renovation. It is not for a single holiday, and reopening your profile afterwards is one more thing to remember.
- Phone availability: if you are closed but still answering calls for bookings, say so in a post.
Why it matters for your profile
Accurate hours are one of the simplest signs that a business is well run. Customers notice when Google's timings match reality, and they notice even more when they don't. Wrong timings also lead to frustrated reviews like "Google said open, they were closed", which are entirely avoidable.
Set it once, a few days early, and your profile looks after your customers while you look after the festival rush.
Let us keep your timings right
Updating special hours before every festival is part of our Google Business Profile management service, along with festival posts and review replies. Book a free profile check and we'll make sure your profile is ready for the season.