How Slang gets business hours information and handling holiday closures

Slang gets your business hours from Google, either through your connected Google Business Profile Integration or, if that's not connected, from your public Google Maps listing. Here's how each path works and how to handle holiday closures.

How Slang retrieves hours information

If you've connected the Google Business Profile Integration (Marketplace → Google tile), Slang reads your hours directly from your Google Business Profile on every call, including any special hours or holiday closures you've entered, no matter how far in advance. There's no forward-window limit for connected accounts.

If you haven't connected the integration, Slang instead pulls from your public Google listing with a 7-day forward window. When callers ask about dates beyond that window, Slang infers hours by referencing the same day of the week within the available window — so a caller asking about Christmas Day more than a week out might be told you're open, even if you've marked it closed on Google.

Either way, Slang checks Google as the source of truth.

Connecting the Google Business Profile Integration

This is the fix for the 7-day limitation. To connect:

1. Log into ilove.slang.ai and go to the location's Marketplace tab

2. Find the Google tile and click Connect, then Sign in with Google

3. Authorize Slang (the scope is read-only for business hours — nothing is edited or deleted on your profile)

4. Back on the Marketplace page, click Configure on the Google tile, select your matching Google location, and click Connect

Takes about 2 minutes. If the Google tile shows an error icon, the connection has been interrupted (e.g., revoked authorization) and you're temporarily back on the 7-day-limited path until you reconnect.

Updating your business hours

Update your hours directly in Google Business Profile. If you're connected via the integration, changes are reflected on your next call, since Slang reads live. If you're not connected, allow up to 7 days for changes to reach Slang through the older sync path.

If you see the Hours tab in your Slang Dashboard, please note this feature is designed to forward calls on a schedule. Click here for more information, or reach out to your account manager or support@slang.ai for more information.

Handling holiday closures and special hours

If connected to the Google Business Profile Integration: update your holiday hours or special closures directly in Google Business Profile whenever you like, days or months out — Slang will read them accurately.

If not connected: for closures beyond 7 days, use the greeting tagline in the Branding tab.

For special dates when you're open (normally closed days): add Special Hours for that date in Google Business Profile, marked open with that day's hours. Do this as early as possible since Google takes time to publish changes. Connected accounts will pick this up on the next call; non-connected accounts still depend on the 7-day window.

Optional safety net for either path: add an announcement in Branding → Greeting (e.g., "Heads up — we're open Tuesday, May 5"). This is a pure announcement and doesn't change how the AI answers direct hours questions — that always follows Google data. Remove it after the date passes.

Use your greeting tagline (primarily relevant if not connected to the integration, or as extra insurance)

Go to Branding → Edit Greeting and add closure info to your tagline. You can also keep your Seasonal Events topic updated.

Important: While Slang's spoken hours info depends on your connection status as above, your reservation system integration (like OpenTable) independently blocks bookings on dates you're marked closed there, regardless of what Slang says on the phone.

Troubleshooting hours issues

• First, check whether the location is connected to the Google Business Profile Integration (Marketplace tab) — if the tile shows an error, hours have silently fallen back to the 7-day-limited path

• Verify your Google Business Profile has the correct hours

• If connected: changes should reflect on the next call. If not connected: allow up to 7 days

• Use the greeting tagline as an immediate workaround if needed

• Contact Slang support if issues persist after the above

For more information on the latest version of Slang, contact your account manager or email support@slang.ai.