Holiday plans change more than your shop’s work schedule. They also affect when customers can drop off vehicles, collect completed repairs, and reach your service team.
Before Thanksgiving week arrives, take a few minutes to check what your business tells customers online. Clear holiday information can prevent an unnecessary trip and help your team manage expectations.
Confirm the Schedule Before Updating It
Start with the actual operating plan. Will your shop close for Thanksgiving? Will Friday have shorter hours? Will vehicle pickup end earlier than usual?
Confirm those decisions with the owner or manager before publishing them. Separate customer-facing hours from arrangements such as an after-hours key drop.
A drop box may accept keys overnight, but that does not mean the shop is staffed or that repairs begin when the vehicle arrives.
Use Google’s Special-Hours Setting
Google Business Profile allows you to enter date-specific hours without changing your normal weekly schedule. Its guidance recommends confirming official holiday hours even when they remain unchanged. Google Business Profile Help
To update them, open your Business Profile and select Edit profile → Hours → Special hours. Choose each affected date, enter the correct opening and closing times or mark it closed, and save.
For Thanksgiving 2026, review Thursday, November 26, and any surrounding dates your shop plans to adjust.
Explain What Happens with Customer Requests
If customers can submit requests while the shop is closed, explain when your team will review them.
For example, a confirmation message could say:
“Thank you for your appointment request. Our shop is closed for Thanksgiving. We’ll review requests when we reopen and contact you to confirm availability.”
Adapt that wording to your actual schedule and process. A submitted request should not leave customers guessing whether their appointment is confirmed.
Keep the Website and Customer Messages Consistent
After updating Google, review the places customers use to plan a visit:
- Your website’s contact and appointment pages.
- Any prominent holiday notice.
- Your phone greeting.
- Appointment acknowledgments and messaging replies.
We recommend using the same dates and reopening information throughout. If your website provider maintains business-hours structured data—the code describing your shop—ask them to check that it accurately represents your published information.
Verify the Result
Once you save the changes, inspect the public profile and website on a customer’s phone. Check the dates, read the notices, and test the appointment process.
Put a reminder on your calendar to remove temporary website notices after the holiday. That keeps useful information from becoming outdated clutter.
Need help keeping your website and local business information accurate? Contact Motorhead Advantage to discuss your shop’s marketing priorities.