I have status at Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton. I also stay at Wyndham and am a WBR member. Starwood is the worst at this. Marriott is the best. I am just a much bigger fan of Westins.
The solution is very simple. If there is a sign that says DO NOT DISTURB, then DO NOT DISTURB. Leave a note or a message (I prefer the note). DO NOT DISTURB unless there is a fire, earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, or other devastating high risk condition. A chocolate on my pillow does not meet this criteria.
The followup is that this person had set off my entire sleep schedule for the week as a result and did very much damage to my trip. I had to reschedule morning meetings for evenings and missed some clients that I needed to see.
As far as the low paid immigrants and lowest price - At the Westin BKK where the last incident occurred, I doubt they were immigrants into Thailand. And as far as the lowest price goes, I paid roughly THREE TIMES THE PRICE of what another client paid for his room down the street. The other client got an 80 square meter suite - and I got a regular room. He didn't get starpoints - but he did not get woken up either
In retrospect, I should have stayed across the street at the Sheraton. It's a little more expensive and the beds are harder than my datacenter floor, but it's a MUCH better hotel. Live and learn.