> First, I was required to loan my employer $3000 for a month by paying for all the expenses (including the unavoidable very expensive hotel rate) on my personal card.

This is the part that kills me. In my org people frequently travel at the last minute to Asia for weeks at a time. Those claims sometimes end up into the five figure range depending on the time of year. People have been almost stranded because they've maxed out their personal cards.