Free Starwood Gold Status for CLEAR Members

Through the end of the year, Starwood Preferred Guest is offering free Gold status to members of CLEAR (expedited security, but distinguished from PreCheck).

The offer also includes 1000 bonus points per stay, up to 10 stays, through December 31.

The signup form asks for your CLEAR membership number, I do not know whether they ever validate that membership number.

But signing up for CLEAR is enough to get Starwood Gold status. And there have been plenty of free trial offers for CLEAR, for instance if you’ve signed up for Milepoint Premium one of the benefits is a 90 day free trial with CLEAR.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. As soon as I saw the title, I was thinking MP Premium membership. Does this mean free SPG Gold through 2013 if I sign up on 12/31? Don’t stay at SPG properties and no AMEX Plat, but I’ve never said no to free status…

  2. You appear to be correct, @unavaca. From the T&Cs:

    “Offer is valid for recipient of this email only, who must be a current Clear member and not currently an SPG member”

  3. After reviewing the T&C, I saw

    “By enrolling, you accept the terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG®) program, which can be found at spg.com and are subject to change without notice, and you opt to receive direct mail communications. Offer is valid for recipient of this email only, who must be a current Clear member and not currently an SPG member, and is nontransferable”

    so 1. if I am currently a SPG member then it seems like I cannot use thie promotion.
    2. that said, is it possible to register for another SPG account and merge them afterwards, will the gold account membership be kept after the merge?

  4. I activated my Clear membership from Milepoint and the SPG page still says I’m not eligible, even when I entered information different from my existing SPG account.

    @CodeAdam10, mine’s an eight digit string of numbers.

  5. How do they target an offer, and then require that you must not be a member of their club already? Where did they get the e-mail list? Is Clear selling your info?

  6. @ KK: Thanks. I thought there was an issue with my account number format or something. It keeps saying I’m not eligible either. Very strange.

  7. Why doesn’t Starwood give Plat Challengers any status? I have about 100 nights with Marriott so far this year and considered doing a Starwood challenge the last 3 months of the year but the thought of having no status and paying for internet turned me off.

  8. i just signed clear. but i cannot get this offer. spg always said i do not qualify for this offer. shit

  9. I bought a premium membership to milepoint but I don’t see CLEAR listed in the award store. How do I get the free 90 days?

  10. @Nick you would have received a private conversation with instructions on claiming various discount codes including the CLEAR trial

  11. Well, I didn’t. I’m a premium member and received the 2000 UA miles, the Hilton plat upgrade, and I have the National Exec award still sitting in my award store (as I’m an exec currently). Just checked and never received anything in the inbox or any private conversation with instructions. What is my next move? Thanks.

  12. @Nick, FWIW I received an email with my other benefits info. It never shows up in the award store.

  13. I think it’s only for ppl who received an email. I tried (current SPG member) and my brother(not a SPG member) tried.
    Did not work for either.
    I want 10 minutes of my life back :).

  14. I also tried and was denied. Got the following message:
    “Maybe next time.
    Sorry, you’re not eligible for this promotion. Not to worry: You can still check out our latest special offers at spg.com”

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