I am also SPG Gold. For my family of four I had reserved two separate rooms with private pools, one paid and one in points and I requested connecting rooms. I really wanted to have one Ionic Grand Suite with Private Pool but SPG reservations told me they were all smoking rooms. Wrong!!!! When I arrived at the hotel I mentioned that and the manager was very surprised. The entire property is non smoking. He offered to put us in one huge suite with private pool instead of having two rooms. The suite was spectacular. We also had breakfast included in only one of the rooms and he gave it free for all of us. I would not count on seaview as an upgrade since unless you get one of the villas you won't see much of sea and if you are in anything higher than 3rd floor (which is mainly the ground level) you won't have a private pool in your room which was fantastic. So seaview may be a trade off to having a private pool.

I can only say amazing things of the staff and I am pretty sure if they are not sold out they will be very accommodating to your requests.