I got a Gold comp from Starwood in exactly the manner StacyCat describes. They have a deal with United (and others?) whereby you can have your Starwood points automatically converted to Mileage Plus miles at a 1:1 ratio. I think it's called "Airline Direct Deposit" or something like that. I received a postcard from Starwood about it. Sign up for it and you get Gold. I ended my participation in this program when I (1) realized that keeping the Starpoints is a better value and (2) applied for the Starwood Amex which will comp me to Gold anyway.