I've been to this conference center. It's in a very decent, touristy part of town with plenty of hotels, cafes, and restaurants. In fact there are two hotels right across the street, one of which has a Starbucks in the lobby.

The real issue here was conference organizers being officious and failing to use common sense, which the OP had a legitimate reason to be annoyed about given he was a speaker and apparently went to some trouble and expense. No need to be over the top, it was bad enough without the hyperbole.