Special hours
Example: A neighborhood cafe sets a special-hours override for Christmas Eve so its listing shows an early 3 p.m. close instead of the usual 9 p.m., and Google never flags the profile for conflicting with a known holiday.
the override for any day that doesn't follow your usual schedule
A separate entity in Google's data model from regular hours: per-date overrides for holidays, private events, weather closures, and modified-hours days (early-close on Christmas Eve, brunch-only on Mother's Day). In Schema.org this maps to additional OpeningHoursSpecification entries with validFrom/validThrough dates.
Why it matters
Most owners enter regular hours once and never touch the data model again. Google flags listings where regular hours conflict with widely-known holiday closures (your "Mon: 11–9" still showing on Christmas Day) as "may have inaccurate info" — a soft demotion in local search. Maintaining special hours is the half of hours-management that requires a calendar, not a one-time fill-in.
Frequently asked
What is special hours?
Special hours is a separate entity in Google's data model from regular hours: per-date overrides for holidays, private events, weather closures, and modified-hours days (early-close on Christmas Eve, brunch-only on Mother's Day). In Schema.org this maps to additional OpeningHoursSpecification entries with validFrom/validThrough dates.
Why does special hours matter for a restaurant?
Most owners enter regular hours once and never touch the data model again. Google flags listings where regular hours conflict with widely-known holiday closures (your "Mon: 11–9" still showing on Christmas Day) as "may have inaccurate info" — a soft demotion in local search. Maintaining special hours is the half of hours-management that requires a calendar, not a one-time fill-in.
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