It's a small cap conference. These are all companies that have the potential to make it but haven't "made it" yet. If it was a large cap conference it would be different.
It's a pretty nice hotel and who knows about logistics, perhaps there was no vacancy at other hotels. Makes no sense to judge a solid company by a hotel where a conference is at.. actually quite silly.
The hotel where the conference is being held this year looks nicer than the pictures posted on thewallstreatconference.com from last years conference. OWCP!!
Funny, I have a CFA friend too and he invested in a bunch of penny stocks and several went up to $5-$15. Best day of his life was when he told his boss he was retiring. In his 30s.