Or it could just be as simple as not having enough confirmed attendees to keep the group rate for the room block. Given a choice between "charge people a lot more and have quite a lot of non-furs in the hotel" and "change hotels", I can see something like this happening.
Of course, I'm blatantly guessing just as much as anyone else here. The point is, there are plenty of very mundane reasons a first-time con can wind up in this sort of situation.
Or it could just be as simple as not having enough confirmed attendees to keep the group rate for the room block. Given a choice between "charge people a lot more and have quite a lot of non-furs in the hotel" and "change hotels", I can see something like this happening.
Of course, I'm blatantly guessing just as much as anyone else here. The point is, there are plenty of very mundane reasons a first-time con can wind up in this sort of situation.