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Update holiday hours on Google Business Profile

Holiday hours automation takes closures and special openings from one shared sheet and sets them as special hours on your Google Business Profile. It also drafts a matching notice for Facebook and Instagram and lists any other listings that need a manual update.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From one sheet of dates to the right hours everywhere.

  1. Step 01

    Dates entered

    The owner adds each closure or special opening to a Google Sheet, with the date, location, hours and a short reason.

  2. Step 02

    Entries checked

    Check each entry for clashes, past dates and closing times earlier than opening times before anything is changed.

  3. Step 03

    Google updated

    Set the special hours on each Google Business Profile location, leaving your regular hours untouched.

  4. Step 04

    Notice drafted

    Draft a short post for Facebook and Instagram from the same dates, which a person approves before it is published.

  5. Step 05

    Checklist made

    List the places that can’t be updated automatically, such as Tripadvisor, Yelp or a booking site, as a checklist for a person.

The result

Customers see the right hours over bank holidays, wherever they look.

Only special hours for future dates are changed, never regular opening hours. Editing a row updates the existing entry rather than adding a second one, and nothing is posted to social media without approval.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for cafés, shops, salons, gyms, garden centres and businesses with several branches, where bank holidays and seasonal hours mean updating the same details in many places. A sensible first version sets Google special hours from the sheet and sends the owner a checklist for everything else.

What we need to connect

  1. 01Owner or manager access to each Google Business Profile location, with API access approved for updating business information.
  2. 02A shared Google Sheet with one row per date and location, kept by the person who decides opening hours.
  3. 03Publishing access to your Facebook Page and Instagram professional account, and a list of any other sites that show your hours.

What needs careful handling

Google can hold or review edits to a listing, so each update is checked afterwards and anything not showing is flagged for a person. Late-night hours, such as a bar open past midnight, need entering carefully so they don’t look like a closing time before the opening time. Your own website may show hours from a separate source, so it either reads the same sheet or goes on the checklist with everything else.

Questions people ask.

Doesn’t Google already prompt us to confirm holiday hours?

Google Business Profile does suggest confirming hours ahead of some public holidays, and you can set special hours by hand. Working from one sheet helps when you have several locations or many dates, and keeps social media and other listings consistent with Google.

Will it post on social media without asking?

No. The notice is drafted from the dates in the sheet and waits for a person to approve or edit it. Many owners like to add a line of their own, such as thanking customers for their patience.

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