Starwood Preferred Guest - Starwood New Member Bonus / Promotion?

Hi all! Have been following Flyertalk for awhile now, typically on the United forum, but am scheduled to stay at a W Hotel for 5 nights this summer.

Thought it'd be a good idea to register for SPG, and wanted to see if someone could offer some info about new member signup promos, etc? Also, anyway to get the SPG Gold (I understand the referral program is now history) without paying too much for it (AMEX Platinum, for example)?

Any and all help and advice appreciated. Thanks!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SFO2003:
Also, anyway to get the SPG Gold (I understand the referral program is now history) without paying too much for it (AMEX Platinum, for example)?
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Search this board for Lufthansa.

Go to www.spg.com/mba (http://www.spg.com/mba)
but shhh... you didn't hear it from me =)