Google Maps and Search now display holiday hours

With the holiday season approaching, Google has rolled out a special update to two of their most-used apps. In addition to showing normal operating hours, Maps and Search will now display holiday hours as well.

Jonathan Sidi, the Product Manager of Google Maps and Local Search, posted on the official Google Maps blog today that holiday hours have been added to the apps. Now, if a holiday falls within the next seven days, businesses will display the holiday hours without you having to specifically search for them. This looks like it could be quite the nifty time-saver. It will probably also help you avoid those irritating situations when you haul yourself all the way to your favorite noodle restaurant only to be surprised to find that the lights are out and one’s home.  Oh yeah, Chinese New Year.

This update to Google Maps and Search is global, as Sidi points out, so if you’re traveling abroad it can help you tabs on operating hours affected by holidays you might not have considered. “How’s that for traveling like a local?” Sidi quips. If no holiday hours are available in Google’s system for a given business, users will encounter a warning message, giving them a heads up that operating hours might be different due to a looming holiday. 

It’s a slick little addition to an already intuitive pair of apps. Since you don’t have to specifically access this feature (and it is turned on in the background), most users will just find themselves stumbling upon it organically. What do you think of the addition? Share your thoughts in the comments.