Closed days & special hours

Bonnie gets your regular opening hours from your Google Business profile. For special closures, theme nights and one-off changes, here is what to update and where, plus how to fix Bonnie saying you are closed when you are open.

Regular opening hours

Bonnie reads these from your Google Business profile. To change them:

1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with your business Google account.
2. Update your hours.
3. Bonnie picks up the change automatically. This can take up to 24 hours.

Do not type your regular opening hours into your assistant prompt. Bonnie uses Google automatically, and duplicating them creates conflicts if one gets out of date.

One-off closures

In your Google Business profile, add a special hour for that date and mark it as closed. You can also add the closure to your assistant's FAQ tab: "We are closed on [date] for [reason]." If transfers are active, also block that date on your transfer rule so Bonnie does not try to put calls through. See Transfers & working schedule.

Themed nights and special menus

If you run a themed night (set menu only, private event), tell Bonnie both what is and what is not available. If you only say what is available, Bonnie assumes everything else is normal. For example: "On [date] we run a set menu evening. Only the set menu is available. The regular a la carte menu is not available that evening." Put this on your FAQ tab and remove it once the date has passed. See Writing good instructions.

Bonnie says you are closed when you are open

If Bonnie tells callers you are closed on a day you are open, there is almost always a clear reason. Check these in order.

1. Google special hours: the 7-day window

This is the most common cause. Google only makes special opening hours available to Bonnie if the date is within the next 7 days. If a holiday falls 10 days away and you set special hours for it, Bonnie cannot see them yet and falls back to your regular schedule for that weekday, which may say "Closed". Once the date enters the 7-day window, Bonnie picks up the special hours automatically.

For dates further than 7 days away, add the special opening to your FAQ tab manually, for example: "We are open on [date] from 11:00 to 22:00." Remove it after the date passes. Make sure you set a "special hour" in Google, not just edit the standard weekday hours.

2. Your Google profile shows the wrong hours

Bonnie uses whatever Google shows. Sign in at business.google.com, check your regular hours for every day, and add special hours for one-off closures. Changes apply within 24 hours.

3. Your transfer hours do not match your Google hours

If you extended your opening hours on Google but your transfer rule still has the old times, Bonnie correctly reports you as open but cannot transfer outside the old hours. Whenever you update Google hours, also update the Availability on your transfer rule. See Transfers & working schedule.

4. A blocked date you forgot about

Check whether the date is in your Blocked dates list on the transfer rule. A blocked date makes Bonnie use the Closed message even within normal hours. Remove it if it no longer applies.

5. An old closure left in your FAQ

Search your FAQ tab for the specific date. Old entries (for example "closed on Easter" from a previous year) sometimes remain and confuse Bonnie. Delete outdated date-specific entries. See Bonnie says something that is not right.

A private event (closed for normal bookings on one day)

When you have a private event and do not want any normal reservations that day, do two things:

1. Close your booking widget for that date so no online reservations can come in. Block the day in your reservation system (Bonnie checks availability live, so once the day is closed she will not book it). OpenTable users: set all three channels (Online, In-house, Walk-in) to unavailable in GuestCenter, not just Online.
2. Add a note to your prompt under the date and time so Bonnie tells callers what is going on, for example: "On [date] we have a private event, so we cannot take reservations. Guests are still welcome to pop in tomorrow." Remove the note once the date has passed.

If transfers are active, also block that date on your transfer rule so Bonnie does not try to put calls through. See Transfers & working schedule and Integration connected but something is wrong.

Holidays where you are unexpectedly open

If you open on a day that is normally closed, Bonnie may tell callers you are closed because Google still shows it as your day off. Add a special hour in Google marking you as open, and update your transfer rule availability to include that day.