How to update business locations that are no longer open to public?

[WAHamilton]

Hi there,

I'm having a bit of an unusual challenge that I'm looking for input on the best way to address. Hoping the brilliant minds here can help!

I work for a client with a large, multi-location presence. The client has a group of lisstings that it has transitioned to 'dark sites' earlier this year, which means they are no longer open to the public and are only used for pickup by internal employees (couriers).

The client does not want to mark these listings as 'permanently closed', since they are concerned about creating concerns/confusion about service cancellations. However, they do want them to removed from Maps, so members of the general public do not show up to pick up packages (this was previously available, but is no longer an option).

I have attempted to edit these listings as 'no longer open to the public' and get them removed directly, but all of my edits have been rejected. For additional context, these are unclaimed listings at present. The listings are owned by someone internal to the organization, but I have been unable to track down the person/account in question.

What would you recommend as next steps? Do you think it will be necessary for me to claim the listings to report them as 'no longer open to the public'? Or will I need to mark them as 'permanently closed' to get them removed from Maps? Or is another potential solution?

Thanks in advance for all your advice on this!

 

[JS Girard]

The only way that I've been able to make "not open to the public" work is with unverified profiles. Ironically, you may have to claim these profiles and then remove all managers. This would make it much more easy to kill them by suggestions. You could also try moving and merging them to the still open locations.