GMB Business Hours - Need Advice

[brownaddesign]

Hi,

I have created a GMB listing for our new barn wedding venue. I need advice on how you would list the business hours.

We are not physically at the barn location unless there is a wedding. The days/hours of which we offer weddings are:

? Friday: 4pm - 9pm
? Saturday: 9am - 11pm
? Sunday 1pm - 9pm

Of course, we're really not "open" to the public during those times, as they are private events. And of course, there is not a wedding on each of those days year round. It short, "it depends."

The wedding venue is our "second job" and our main contact is my wife, who teaches elementary school. She can respond to email during the day and return phone calls, as well as set up times to give tours to prospective couples, after 4:00 pm (until dark) and on the weekends if there is no wedding.

I'm really at a loss as to what I should list on our GMB page as our hours. I know GMB doesn't support "by appointment." But I want to get this settled before I start building out other citations for local SEO.

If this were your business as described above, what would you list as your hours on GMB?

Thanks,
Neil

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Neil and welcome!

This one is a tricky situation and one that kinda falls through Google's cracks. On one hand you are only supposed to list the hours someone is physically there to meet clients face to face. (I realize the problems there.) So normally, for another industry, my advice would be to set it up as a Service area business so you can hide the address and then could put the hours available by phone.

However, in your business I realize potential clients may NEED to see where it's located or view 3D on maps to see surrounding area.

So you are stuck between a rock and a hard place!

​

Let's see if any of our members have experienced this and have ideas for you. Many of our top members who might know are out at a Google conference so replies could be delayed.

 

[JonClassyBrain]

<style type="text/css">p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 12.0px}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}</style>Hello Neil,

I?ve heard that Google is working on this feature for GMB listings but who knows when and if they will roll it out. Yelp however does have this feature. One thing you could try is posting on your GMB page that you are an appointment only location. In my experience a post will last about week. So you would have to do this once a week.

If it were my business I would hire a part time receptionist to be present at the location to take calls and schedule consultations.

My company had a Google representative come into my office and verify location and hours of operation. That was the sole purpose of his job. This may be rare but Google does check.

 

[dmurphy1]

Hello Neil,

Why not post the hours but hide the address? This will force people to call. And they will call because they are searching for a wedding venue. Due to the nature of your business I doubt you'd lose a single call.

Then provide a further explanation on your website's landing page. If you don't have a website create a landing page for that purpose.

I'd take the risk that Google won't show up to check (unless the sneaky Googs are monitoring these posts). What are the odds they'd do a physical check - one in a million? If they do show up - thank them - as it is a sure sign you should go immediately to Vegas.