Apparently booking sites have the worst rooms reserved for their platforms. So its worth just booking directly through a hotel's website instead of using an aggregator.
No, the hotel staff just know which hotel guests are worth more.
Reservations for guests that stay with the hotel brand frequently are designated with various tiers in the rewards programs. There are arrival reports that detail how much they stay at specific hotels and what their preferences are. It is also trivial to sort through people coming via travel agents such as Priceline, booking.com, or Expedia, which means the hotel has to pay commission, which makes those guests worth less than those who reserve directly.
Apparently booking sites have the worst rooms reserved for their platforms. So its worth just booking directly through a hotel's website instead of using an aggregator.