I agree with Mike!!!
I nominated a new Starbucks and a new Andies Custard shop in Newnan Georgia and they were both quickly denied. Why? There are hundreds or thousands of other Starbucks or Ice Cream shops that are deemed worthy. Why?
I worked so hard for years to get the chance to nominate and then I’m immediately denied?
I have also identified several Pokestops that do NOT meet the criteria for being a Pokestop. 2 of them are where I work - neither one can even be seen or accessed by the public! They are in restricted areas.
This seems pointless.
Welcome to the forum, and sorry to see you so frustrated.
These Starbucks locations you see in game are sponsored - Starbucks has a deal with Niantic.
Andy’s Frozen Custard and Starbucks are both chains. The “Generic business” rejection reason gives “chains” as an example to reject.
Here is a clarification on Generic Businesses:
I can’t speak for Andies Custard, as we don’t have that in the UK and I’ve never heard of it, but nearly all the Starbucks locations you see are due to a sponsorship deal between Starbucks and the Pokémon Go team. They pay to have Pokéstops and Gyms at a preselected list of their locations. Sponsored locations shouldn’t be used as a basis for what you can submit. That’s not to say a Starbucks can’t meet the eligibility criteria, but it’s very difficult to get them accepted as they’re one of the most generic businesses there is. From what I gather, they do sometimes have unique artwork that can be submitted though, so maybe try that angle?
Every Starbucks I have ever visited has been a Pokestop so I didn’t understand why I was denied. I also made a third nomination of the giant Delta widget at my work on hanger three which was also denied. There is a three-dimensional widget at the other end of the building that is a PokéStop so I didn’t understand why mine was denied. I was not provided a reason so I assumed it was because the public could not touch it, but it can easily be seen from the street in front of it. The other Delta widget that is a PokéStop cannot be seen by the public at all. I guess you have to know somebody.
No, you don’t have to know somebody. If you would like to open your own separate topic, we can look at your nominations and try to help you with presentation, if that is the issue. Meanwhile, here are some tips from people who have been doing this a long time: Top Mistakes Made When Nominating, and How to Avoid Them
It is really hard to just go by what you see in game, as counterintuitive as that sounds. You really need to study the criteria. This is a great link for that: https://niantic.helpshift.com/hc/en/21-wayfarer/section/166-wayspot-criteria/
Pointing to Starbucks having a Pokestop and expecting your nomination to go through is like trying to bring a six pack of beer into a ballpark and pointing to the people already drinking beer inside as the reason why you should be allowed. They’re able to drink that beer because they paid for it in the ballpark. Starbucks is paying for their sponsorship and the company that runs Pokemon Go wants to be able to make their money.
It sounds like you might be working at an airport. If so then part of your problem might be that many areas in an airport are considered dangerous to the general public. Areas like active military bases, fire stations, hospital emergency entrances, and similar utility zones are generally denied as unsafe. If the object is in a customer area or supply hangar then it might be easier to get accepted.
I’m not familiar with the “Delta Widget” but it sounds like some sort of company logo? Delta Airlines?
Having 2 similar (exactly the same?) objects on the building in real life does not make them both acceptable to the database. It would be highly likely that the second would be considered as not significantly different from the first, so rejected as not distinct or it may even be considered a duplicate. To be honest it doesn’t sound as though the first should have been accepted - that nomination got lucky.
It is very frustrating if you are hitting issues in submitting and not getting accepted. This community of experienced wayfinders will be very happy to help you identify suitable objects / places and how to present them to reviewers to make it easy for reviewers to say yes.