staying at a hotel for call? part work, part mattress-running

since i joined the call group for the hospital that i'm working at since october 2014 (located a good 40 minutes' drive from where i live), i have been staying at the hotel that was located right across the street. since i'm aiming for starwood status, i stay at the local starwood hotel.

this is the rationale and its accompanying "by the numbers".

1) tax implications: is this a reasonable business expense?
as an incorporated physician, there are rules based on the canadian revenue agency as to what is a deductible corporate tax expense. they have stated that if there is an expectation for your job to be present at the job site within a reasonable amount of time, and if staying at a hotel will help you to make more income for your company, then it can be written off as a business expense. the expense itself is taken right off the top. therefore, you're paying for this hotel night using pre-tax dollars as opposed to after corporate tax dollars or after personal tax dollars.

this works in my situation because i don't get a hospital call room, and driving in to the hospital would take roughly 30-40 minutes (which would be bad for patient care).

2) tax implications: how much does it actually cost?
assuming a marginal personal tax rate of 40%, that means that the total cost of the hotel stay is only 60% of the actual cost buying it using pre-tax dollars. for illustrative purposes: if the hotel night cost $100 a night all in, had i chosen to just drive in to the hospital instead and paid myself $100 from the company, i would actually only see $60 in my pocket after personal taxes.

3) which rates to use? 
i have learned that hotels have very loose rules for what constitutes a government employee. having a hospital ID badge which is run by the provincial health authority counts as being an employee of the government. and in all fairness, i am working for the government while i use this rate. this means that the rate falls to $155 a night all in. as per above, the actual cost then is $93 a night. this is the actual amount of money after taxes that i would have actually missed out on in my pocket had i just stayed at home.

4) credit card re-imbursements
you can book using a personal credit card and have the company reimburse you for it. i use the mbna 2% cash back card (no fee version). (note, i argue that i am redeeming for travel credit, which isn't exactly cash back). so by paying $155 a night on my credit card, i get $3.10 back. this is not taxable income as per the canadian revenue agency. so the actual cost per night is roughly $90.

unfortunately, government rates do not qualify for things like ebates or greatcanadianrebates.

5) base points for the rate
the actual base rate is roughly $129 a night. you only get base points based on the rate excluding taxes. i get 2 points per dollar spent, and a bonus point for being an elite member (gold and platinum members both earn 1 bonus point). therefore, per night, i get 387 points.

6) platinum amenity and declining housekeeping
at sheraton and westin hotels, you can choose to get 500 platinum amenity points. you also get 500 points for every night you decline housekeeping. so for each night, you will earn 500 bonus points in some form.

7) bonus point promotions
previous bonuses included double points or 1,000 points for every 5th night etc. the upcoming SPG second trimester promotion is 1,000 bonus points for every 2+ night stay that include a friday, saturday, or sunday. i will conservatively place this benefit as 113 bonus points a night.

8) overall number of points
overall, i expect a total of 1,000 points per night. there are numerous ways to use this in my calculations:

• convert to aeroplan (1,000 points = 1,250 aeroplan points). i value each point as being worth roughly 1 cent in economy ($12.50) or 5 cents in business ($62.50) if you can actually get seats
• redeeming for hotels usually nets at least 2.5 cents per point ($25.00). sometimes, if you redeem for low tier hotels, you can get better values. currently, the vancouver sheraton airport is a category 2 hotel. weekends are just 3,000 points. the regular rate is about $150, which is a value of 5 cents per point ($50.00).

9) benefits of staying in a hotel
one has to keep in mind that platinum members get free access to club lounges and club floors at all sheraton hotels. some of these benefits for staying at a hotel include:

• free breakfast in the lounge ($5 value per day)
• free appetizers and dinner in the lounge ($7.50 per day)
• free drinks that i stock my office with later ($2.50 per day)
• free access to fitness facility / pool
• no need to clean, laundry/bedsheets are done, utility usage is down
• actual ability to see patients on call in a timely manner.
• no need to pay for parking/gas while coming in for call ($6 per day)
• you can sleep in before coming in to work the next morning (priceless)

10) jump starting my count to platinum status earlier
i used to earn platinum status via stays. previously, i would stay at two different hotels in the same city in order to maximize stay credits. this is no longer the case as i am on call roughly 35 nights a year.

and this is how starwood status will be easy to obtain in 2015 for $21.50 - $59.00 a day.