Speaker Travel Expenses Policy & Fees
Travel Expense Types
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Flat Rate Travel
A flat rate travel fee is included as a separate line item on the invoice. This rate reflects the total estimated travel cost and simplifies billing without requiring itemized breakdowns.
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Itemized Expenses
Travel expenses are listed per item with individual costs and supporting receipts. This format is typically used for government or association requirements when detailed reporting is needed.
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All in Travel Expenses
All travel costs are included within the speaker fee. This approach consolidates expenses into one total cost and removes the need for separate travel expenses which some organizations require.
Travel Arrangements & Communications
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SBC Travel Coordination & Contact
All travel arrangements and reimbursements are coordinated through the Speakers Bureau of Canada. We align our process with each organization’s internal procedures and kindly ask to prioritize travel approvals and confirmations. Please notify us promptly of any anticipated delays so we can protect the speaker’s schedule and the engagement. If you have questions about travel expenses or require assistance, please contact your SBC agent managing your booking or the team monitored email.
Agent Support -
Corporate Travel: Indigenous Travel Services (ITS)
ITS is a tailored boutique corporate travel agent for speakers, events, and organizations, who partner with a wide range of Indigenous businesses to support Indigenous communities. They provide booking coordination, supplier management, cost tracking, and reporting with direct access to airlines, hotels, and transportation partners to support travel planning, policy alignment, and coordination for speaker engagements. Please contact us for their direct contact email or phone number.
Susanne Dos Santos1
(888) 936-2338
Travel Booking Policies
These policies outline the process, standards, responsibilities, and compliance requirements for speaker travel. All travel expenses must reflect actual, reasonable, and pre-approved costs. The host is responsible for all approved travel expenses, and speakers are responsible for any unapproved or nonrefundable costs. All exceptions must be authorized in writing in advance and will be managed on a case-by-case basis.
Travel Standards & Quote Accuracy
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- Speakers may require early arrival based on location, season, or travel route.
- Speakers must notify SBC immediately if travel issues are anticipated or occur.
- Travel planning must prioritize reliability, safety, and timely arrival.
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- Speakers are expected to book refundable, commercially insured flights within policy timelines.
- All travel quotes must reflect actual and reasonable costs.
- Travel quotes may change based on the timing of booking and quotes may need to be adjusted.
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- Speaker must book flights with commercial insurance to allow full refunds and adjustments if required.
- Unless otherwise agreed, flights should be booked with optimal rates at highest level of economy.
- SBC and the speaker must notify one another once travel has been booked.
Speaker Travel Bookings
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- If the event is within 90 days: speaker or SBC must book commercially insured airfare within 4 days of booking confirmation.
- If the event is beyond 90 days: speaker or SBC must book commercially insured airfare within 4 days of the fully signed agreement.
- Speaker or speaker’s travel agent owns and controls all aspects of travel bookings, booking codes and itinerary.
- Host must review and approve flights above highest level of economy, and all flight bookings must follow travel booking policies.
- Unapproved travel expenses including room service, meals and other non-reimbursable travel expenses are the speaker’s responsibility.
- SBC must receive all booking confirmations, addresses and reservation codes within 24 hours of a fully signed agreement.
- Any adjustments, requests or notifications made outside of the policy must be provided in writing for approval from SBC.
Delays, Compliance & Responsibility
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- Delays in agreement finalization may result in increased travel costs for flights, hotel and ground transportation.
- Speakers may book their own travel and must provide confirmations to SBC.
- SBC and their travel agent may book travel on behalf of the speaker.
- Host organization may only book hotel accommodations and ground transportation.
- Speaker and host must follow all travel policies to ensure accuracy and cost control.
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- Host must consider speaker’s travel standards, weather, logistics and cost before booking.
- Speakers must submit receipts when requested by SBC.
- Whether a flat rate or itemized expenses, our agents are responsible for collecting travel-related payments on behalf of the speaker.
- The speaker will be reimbursed as soon as the host has made payment. We may reimburse travel before.
Adjustments & Resolutions
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- Host is not permitted to book flights on behalf of speaker, and speaker will approve the hotel and ground transportation booked by host.
- Speaker will control all flights, car rentals, scheduled meals and other travel related items to make adjustments as needed.
- Cost differences must be communicated with transparency by all parties at all times.
- SBC and the speaker may revise travel quotes if airfare pricing changes if we are within the speaker travel bookings policy.
- Adjustments arising from booking timing, planning disruptions, or external factors including weather or airline changes may occur.
- All updated travel costs incurred within policy are the responsibility of the host organization.
- No party may profit from travel expenses directly or indirectly.
- No party shall incur out-of-pocket costs due to travel including cancellations or rescheduling.
- All parties shall support the resolution of discrepancies or changes arising during booking or travel in accordance with policy standards.
Non-Reimbursable Expenses
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- Airline club memberships
- Seat or class upgrades
- Extra baggage fees
- Non required airline changes
- In-flight personal purchases
- Unapproved travel insurance
- Vallet parking service or parking tickets
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- Childcare, pet-sitting, or house-sitting
- Personal care or grooming
- Dry cleaning or laundry services
- Meeting room rentals
- Wifi and internet upgrades
- Movie and pay per view rentals
- Room service, additional meals
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- Travel or accommodation for guests not included in the quote
- Passport, visa, or vaccination costs (unless required for travel)
- Event insurance required by host
- Ground transportation for events within 50 km of the speaker’s home
2026 Travel Rates — Hotel Accommodations
Unless the speaker or host does not prefer, it is recommended that the host organization books the hotel on behalf of the speaker. The speaker must be well rested prior to the engagement in safe location and comfortable to get a good night’s rest without interruption.
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Rural Hotel Bookings
Highest quality hotel available in region
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Standard City Locations
$250/night plus tax
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Big City / Travel Destinations
Up to $400/night plus tax
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Hotel Standards & Location
Hotel must be in safe location, with a 4-star rating or higher when possible. Hotel must be clean, not under renovations and within close proximity to the venue.
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Hotel Room Standards
Room with a king-size bed. Access to Wi-Fi. Data port if required by the speaker. Away from guests on a higher floor. Access to a gym if possible.
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Morning Events & Presentations
Speaker must arrive the evening prior to the event date for all morning presentations. Speaker’s must be well rested, with no worry of travel on event date.
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Full-Day, Evening & Winter Events
A two-night stay may be preferred depending on the speaker, speaker’s schedule and weather conditions for full-day, evening, or winter events.
2026 Travel Rates — Airfare
Each speaker has their own standards for flights. Speaker’s height, frequent travel and privacy may require the speaker to book a higher class flight. The lowest available fare within the approved fare class is preferred unless the speaker specifies otherwise in advance. We will always advocate to keep travel costs to a minimum while supporting speaker requirements.
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Commercially Insured Flights
All flights must be commercially insured and booked as fully refundable within the highest level of economy fare. This protects flight cancellations and event cancellations and the ability to adjust without any loss of funds.
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Highest Economy Standard Fare Class
Standard airfare must be booked as the highest level of economy for any airline. All airfares must be booked as a fully refundable, commercially insured ticket with flexibility for changes, cancellations, and seat selection.
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Business / First Class Airfare
For speakers who charge $25,000 and above, the speaker may demand a business or first-class flight. Where applicable, these preferences will be identified in advance.
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Ticket Classes by Airline
Air Canada: Economy Comfort
WestJet: Economy Flex
Porter Airlines: Flex
Flight Booking — 90-Day Rule
Speakers will make reasonable efforts to monitor airfare during the agreement process and follow our 90-day rule policy. Speakers and SBC are not responsible for fare increases caused by delays. The host is responsible for any reasonable fare adjustments or differentials.
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Event Within 90 Days
Speaker or SBC must book airfare within 4 days of receiving booking confirmation from SBC.
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Event Beyond 90 Days
Speaker or SBC must book airfare within 4 days of the fully signed agreement, unless otherwise agreed.
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Engagement Cancellations
In the event of an engagement cancellation, SBC and the speaker will review additional costs and notify the host.
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Speaker Controls Flights
Clients may not book flights on a speaker’s behalf without prior approval from SBC.
2026 Travel Rates — Mileage (Speaker Driving to Event)
Mileage charges are incurred only if the speaker is using their own vehicle. To ensure speaker well-being and presentation quality, we do not recommend travel exceeding 4 hours in a single day before or after an engagement. Evening or late-night driving after events is strongly discouraged. If travel must occur in the evening or exceeds 3–4 hours one way, the speaker may request overnight hotel accommodation.
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2026 Mileage Rate
$0.73/km × Round Trip kms
Based on Canada Revenue Rates
Speakers may be reimbursed for mileage at the CRA’s current rate of $0.73/km based on round-trip distance if they are using their own car. This applies to events located more than 25 km from the speaker’s home or office. Local events within a 25 km radius do not qualify for mileage reimbursement.
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Well-Being Guidelines
We do not recommend travel exceeding 4 hours in a single day before or after an engagement. Driving to an event and presenting on the same day must have an event start time after 11:00AM. Evening or late-night driving after events is strongly discouraged. If travel must occur in the evening or exceeds 3–4 hours one way, the speaker may request overnight hotel accommodation. We highly encourage overnight stays for any event over 3 hours away.
2026 Travel Rates — Ground Transportation
Ground transportation preferences are provided by the speaker. If the speaker is flying to the event, they may require round-trip transportation between the airport, hotel, and event venue. Depending on logistics, additional transfers may be required for to airports.
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Home or Office to Departing Airport(Round Trip)
Up to $100 per direction
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Hotel to Event Venue (if separate)
Up to $100 per direction
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Arrival Airport to Hotel or Event Venue (Round Trip)
Up to $100 per direction
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Taxi or Uber
$50–$100 per direction
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Car Rental
$150 per day (includes rental, insurance, and fuel)
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Black Car or Private Limo
Rate varies by location and provider
2026 Travel Rates — Meals, Parking & Incidentals
We always aim to group meals, parking and incidentals into one per day rate within the expenses. We have found that during travel, meals, snacks, parking and incidentals can come by surprise. These rates are aligned with industry standards and Canada Revenue Rates
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Flat Rate Per Diem
Meals & Incidentals Rate: $150/speaker/day
Speakers will require three meals per day, calculated at $25–$50 per meal. In addition, a flat rate of $30 per day is applied to cover incidentals such as booking with our travel agent, parking on site, bottled water, snacks, gratuities, Wi-Fi charges, airport transfers, and other small travel-related expenses.
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Meals
Breakfast, lunch and dinner have different rates with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA but when calculated together, it equates to $75 to $80 per day depending on the location.
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Airport Parking
Speakers may require daily parking at their departing airport, calculated at $30 per day. All such costs will be included under Meals, Parking & Incidentals for reimbursement purposes.
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Event Parking
Speakers may also request reimbursement for on-site parking at the event location. All such costs will be included under Meals, Parking & Incidentals for reimbursement purposes.
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Incidentals
Travel often brings unexpected costs. The incidentals allowance covers tips, snacks, water, medication, and other minor day-of expenses that come up last minute.
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For questions about travel expenses, reimbursements, or specific arrangements, please contact your dedicated booking agent or reach us at events@speakerscanada.com. All travel is coordinated to protect speaker well-being, event quality, and the interests of all parties.