For clarity:
At the gate we were told to make our own arrangments, no announcement referring directly to hotels was given. I asked the Gate Manager who had come over to organise a gateway back to landside if we should book our own accomodation and she replied yes with no further detail. I double checked with the lady who was at the gate from the begining and she said hotels are usually arranged.

We were told to collect baggage from a belt that was clearly wrong. The customs team suggested to me it may be belt 8. I noticed people from our flight at that belt so clearly word was getting around without any announcement. Then when around 20 people were at belt 8 an announcement over PA was made.

At this point an agent was giving out the £10 vouchers. I specifically asked for hotel detail to be told 'up to £200'. Only those in earshot would have known about the price cap, or if they also enquired. Therefore 'reasonable', would have remained the only instruction.
On reflection I feel a note should be given out along with the vouchers advising the BA hotel policy and preferred hotel to use....

I am not in any way complaining about the service, it was an exceptional time with a shortage of staff. I am just explaining for clarity.

Thanks

That may help with reimbursment for more than the £200

As another FTer on that flight, I just want to confirm the OP's description of events. In particular:

The agent at gate A15 who checked our boarding passes to go landside told me to book my own hotel room and claim. No mention of BA being able to book or a limit.

We were told bags would be offloaded by same person; but they were not.

I did manage to buy a toothbrush landslide.

I agree the Sofitel was pretty underwhelming. We did have scruffy robes, hung on an old M&S hanger.

Flight next day was great, including new catering.

Have put a claim in with BA for hotel, meals, toiletries, and delay compensation. Will report what happens.

it would have been great if BA had some kind of emergency rate with area hotels, a la the US model.

Hello everyone. I promised to return with an update on compensation. The claim and receipts were submitted a day or two after the flight and today I received confirmation that Mrs SGM and I are to receive the flight delay compensation and we have been fully reimbursed for the hotel and meals. No quibble from BA on the hotel room or charges. I'm pleased with the outcome.

Oh that's good SGM.
We haven't received ours yet, maybe as we submitted a few days after you.
I feel our claim should be settled in full too as it is basically parallel to yours.

I'm very happy to report our claim was settled in full this morning, maybe 3 months is the new norm?
There must be people affected who can't wait this long, so I hope BA can at least get back to 60 days as promised. In fairness we didn't chase this claim on the basis they are overwhelmed at the mo.

At the outset we didn't shop around for a hotel as it was getting into the evening and I was only prepared to walk to the Sofitel. We were advised (verbally) to cap the price at £200. The Sofitel, after joining something or other was £251 with breakfast. I detailed all this in our claim which was settled in full.
Common sense prevailed and we had a lovely flight the following day.

just to say we had a similar situation when our LGW PMI was cancelled (10 minutes prior to departure). We were told similar I rushed to check Hilton and Sofitel online as our flight was rescheduled for easily next morning. Was handed a letter stating BA would pay up to £200 for 2 pax. Plus £25 each for foodUnfortunately Hilton was full probably due to mass cancellations that day and only one room at Sofitel was left which was a club room. It was almost £300 but I grabbed it and prepared to pay the difference. I also requested a confirmation from the Sofitel that this was their only available room. Was pleasantly surprised to have received a complimentary upgrade to a suite. Submitted the hotel claim plus eu261 and received confirmation both would be paid in full. Really pleased with how BA handled the claim