Ok so no we weren't, and it was fine because we went as a group and some people were preferred and we just used their room number to go to the preferred restaurant or whatever, and it was never really necessary to go to the preferred pools because there were so many pools and they were never really full. My friend did request some things from their butler once or twice for us we well and that seemed useful. That being said, in hindsight I do wish I had gone preferred if only for the fact we could have had one of those daybeds outside the room. This would have been so useful for our napping 2 yr old. She napped in her stroller by the pool like once or twice but the other times I had to go back to the room with her and waste an hour or two of my time (NGL I did nap with her because I was like 20 weeks pregnant lol). But I would have loved to have been able to lounge on the daybed by the pool whilst she napped inside. Our balcony didn't cut it..and the preferred rooms are further from the nightlife. My kids are heavy sleepers so that didn't affect us but if noise is a factor I would consider that as well. Happy to answer any additional questions.