Depends on the hotel, depends who is processing the room assignments.... I would never blatantly ask for an upgrade. However, if it is one of those cases where I book the lowest cost room (such as a 2 bed) and I do not need that room type I will note it in the comments. I also had one hotel who assigned me near the elevator two times even though my profile says "away from elevator" and I returned to that hotel a third time recently and that time typed in the comments high floor away from elevator. What did I get assigned? First floor room by the door to the parking lot and some stairs.

It appears some hotels (Doubletree SLC Airport, formerly Hilton SLC Airport) play little passive aggressive games with room request comments. They also ignore when the customer gives them a negative survey and when the customer complains to Hilton Corporate about it.

Perhaps such hotels would make good Ramadas.