Maybe your issue was calling chains. If you were looking for hotels in Century City (which is essentially just the business district of Beverly Hills) quality isn't going to be a problem. In fact, depending on the chains you were calling, that could have been the issue. The area isn't a big "chain" area . . . whether it's hotels or restaurants.

Some of the large skyscraper hotels in actual downtown Los Angeles have never been sold out (except maybe during the 1984 Olympics).

Anyway, sorry you had such a rough go of it. That would have sucked. I'll definitely help you out (or any other CB member) next trip. LA is massive and tough to navigate without a little inside info. Hope your meetings went well.