Google Maps will now show you holiday hours for businesses

For the upcoming holiday shopping season, Google is going a step beyond its usual practice of displaying business hours in Maps and Search. This year, the company will specify holiday hours for businesses — at least for the ones that publish them online. “When you search for a business and a major holiday is within the next seven days, you’ll see whether the business has a special holiday schedule,” Jonathan Sidi, Maps’ product manager, wrote in a blog post today. “If you search for a business and the holiday hours aren’t listed, you’ll see a warning message alerting you that the actual hours may be different because of the holiday.”

Holiday hours are available globally, according to Google, making it easier to find a restaurant or store that’s open by filtering Maps results to show only businesses that are “open now.” The hours will be displayed across both the desktop and mobile versions of Maps and Search.