Steve is extremely nice and probably didn't want to push the issue. Also, their monthly fee to me made the travel cost insignificant, and he knew that.
In my defense, this stuff just isn't taught anywhere. That day I was one of the 10,000 people who learned something that "everyone knows." (https://xkcd.com/1053/)
There's another story where I worked for the Dept of Defense and on my first work trip I stayed in a run-down Howard Johnson motel in the outskirts of Mobile, Alabama, because I thought we were supposed to book the cheapest possible lodging.
Turns out the policy was we had to book the cheapest rental car, but for hotels we could just get the standard government rate at any hotel chain like Marriott or Hilton. So while my coworkers cozied up on 500-threadcount sheets I watched a car get repossessed outside my window while the front desk receptionist was stealing my card on file. :)