Marriott.com showed that my Hua Hin res had been upgraded to a beachfront about 3-days before arrival (and upon arrival was further upgraded to the Pres Suite as FOM thought the beach party that night might disturb me)

My (future) Nov res in Phuket was upgraded to a pool villa the day after I made it.............guess the FOM knows my name by now as we are frequent returnees, but this routinely happens in Khao Lak & Pattaya as well........... (and, last month in Seoul, likewise pre-arrival upgraded to a suite...........all w/o ever asking)