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Changing Hours on Your Website

Help your customers plan their visit by keeping your working hours accurate. Learn how to update your website hours and avoid lost revenue, poor customer experiences, and negative reviews.

Contents:

  1. Operating vs. Descriptive Hours

  2. Setting/Changing Operating Hours

  3. Setting/Changing Descriptive Hours

  4. Maintaining Accurate Working Hours 


Operating vs. Descriptive Hours

From your SpotHopper dashboard, navigate to Settings → Hours. 

You will see two types of hours - Operating Hours and Descriptive Hours.

Operating Hours

  • Represent your actual working hours 
  • Control availability for all inquiry forms (reservations, orders, catering, private parties) and define the range of available time slots
  • Display on the website unless you have descriptive hours set
  • Are suggested to Google - if your package includes Google Integration

Descriptive Hours

  • Are optional and control how your hours are displayed on your website
  • Override your Operating Hours on the website if added
  • Do not affect inquiry forms or available time slots
  • Are not suggested to Google

⚠️ If both are set, your website will display Descriptive Hours, while your inquiry forms will continue to follow your Operating Hours.


Setting/Changing the Operating Hours

To update your Operating Hours, navigate to Settings → Hours.

Expand Operating Hours using the plus sign, as shown below.

Next, enter your hours of operation and click Save Operating Hours.

Unless you set descriptive hours, these will be the hours that will show on your website.


Setting/Changing the Descriptive Hours

If your schedule is straightforward, Operating Hours alone may be enough.

However, if you have split hours or a more complex schedule, Descriptive Hours let you control how your hours appear on your website.

To set them, go to Settings → Hours, and add your Descriptive Hours exactly as you want them to appear on your website. Then click Save Descriptive Hours.

Regardless of your Operating Hours, the Descriptive Hours will now be shown on your homepage.

Descriptive Hours are useful when you want to clearly communicate:

  • Split schedules (e.g., lunch and dinner hours)
  • Special hours (e.g., holidays or extended hours)
  • Different service hours (e.g., kitchen vs. bar)
  • Temporary changes (e.g., early closures, private events, renovations)

Descriptive Hours do not affect inquiry forms. For split hours, use Operating Hours for full-day availability and block-off hours to restrict inquiries during closed periods.

💡If you offer services outside your regular hours (like catering pickup or venue buyouts), use Descriptive Hours to display your schedule, and adjust your Operating and block-off hours to control when inquiries can be submitted.


Maintaining Accurate Working Hours

Customers rely on the information they find online when planning their visit, so be sure to update your hours whenever they change—it only takes a few clicks.

It’s just as important to keep your hours consistent across all platforms. To help with this, SpotHopper’s Google Integration can suggest your most up-to-date website hours to your Google Business profile.