I also got the gold status when opening a new MR account even though I already had an existing account. Probably within a month I called and asked if they could merge the two accounts....which they did. I love having the status and have moved all my stays to Marriotts. This is actually a great PR "get their attention and business!" move. Unfortunately, I can't imagine having 50 paid nights a year to keep it. Sure hope my status remains until Feb. of 2010.