When we put something on "Favorites" is because we want to have "an easy and fast" access to them. So, the fact that the Favorites section is collapsed by default is not good (we need an extra click = extra time, to arrive to the layout we want to go). Please just do the opposite of what is available now: Favorites section opens by default, with the option for users to collapse it.

I second this. I think this is new, they used to always be accessible. But not only are they collapsed by default, if they are open and we change view, they re-collapse. Since they are "favorites", it's logical to think we would want them as easily accessible as possible.