This is a long account of one of my experiences with a room request.
Several months out, I made a room request for our first stay at BLT. When we arrived we were in a great mood.
(In part because we got to talking to a gentleman in front of us who was checking out, he had been there (the Contemporary) for a big family reunion, etc.; anyway, he had a nephew run up to the room and gifted to us, complete strangers, an unopened bottle of Grey Goose with an "enjoy, have a great vacation". Strange but true.)
So we get to the desk and yea, our room is ready! I was so excited. I told the CM it was our first visit and asked if she would point out our room on the map. Well, it was immediately apparent that none of my requests were met (north tower, even number, high floor).
Well that really killed the mood. Literally, I think my face fell. I asked if my room requests were noted on my reservation. OK, they were. I told her this is our first visit and I made these requests months ago. The CM asked me to wait and made a call. Then another call. Said nothing else was available. I said I could wait to get into my room until 7:00 PM if they needed time (this was at 10:30 AM). She made another call and asked us to wait. (By now I felt really bad about holding up the line, but this was an 8 night special trip for us.)
After another 10 minutes, she comes back and tells we have found you a new room. Shows us the location on the map. Three for three! All my request were met, and get this, the room was ready!
So my advice, if you can manage it, is to tell them you will wait until the latest hour of the day to get the room location you want. I'm still not clear on how room assignments work. This was the only time in maybe 10 trips that none of our requests were met and I made a "fuss".
DH was a bit embarrassed, maybe? at check-in, but so happy when he saw the view from the room we eventually got.