I don't find anything unusual about that.
When I travel with a group of friends, we don't all make individual bookings at a hotel; it is left for one person to arrange that. If it's not me, then I haven't a clue where we are staying until I get there.
As for "hidden away low profile places," they may indeed exist out there somewhere but I think we would have discovered them by now and someone would have mentioned them on one of the forums.
But if anyone finds one, be sure to let me know! In the meantime, I'll keep looking!