Forgetting the lifetime status stuff for a second, the OP said "can they see differences in the same status." Yes as has been mentioned Plat and Gold aren't the same status, but if they can see the number of lifetime nights as well as YTD nights, technically if there were 2 people checking in with the same status and 1 upgrade available, shouldn't it probably go to the person who has more YTD nights (all else being equal, not factoring in things like if 1 of the people was a regular at that hotel)?

Probably belongs in a different thread but IME it seems like you will only get really upgraded if you ask, and in the case of some of my co-workers, if you come pretty close to demanding.