Yorkshire mother-of-five wins £500k thanks to Omaze winner’s encouragement – and now she’s buying her dream home

Hannah Symes, 31, originally from Plymouth but now living in North Yorkshire, said she had “never even heard of Omaze” until Jo Booth, winner of a £2.5 million house in Yorkshire, came to stay at the hotel where she worked.

When Hannah checked Jo into the hotel she asked, as with any guest, what she had planned during her stay.

It was then that Jo revealed she was staying in Yorkshire because she had just won an Omaze house.

With encouragement from the winner Hannah looked into the competition site and decided to enter that day.

She said: “Safe to say it's the best question I've ever asked and the best tip I've ever had.”

Two months after meeting Jo, Hannah discovered she had won £500,000.

Hannah said: “I got an email saying I’d won something and Omaze wanted to call me.

“I had been up since 5am that morning with the kids and was looking at Legoland for my son’s birthday. I was pricing it all up, but the cost was just astronomical, so I was feeling a bit disheartened about it as I wasn't able to book anything.

“Then the next thing I knew, Omaze was telling me I’d won half a million pounds! Our lives changed forever in that instant!

“I was stunned! It didn’t sink in and it was hard to compute the number! I had to write it down on a bit of paper to make sense of it - half a million is just an insane amount of money.”

A significant moment for Hannah was that prize was drawn the day before her birthday.

The 31-year-old used the money to pay off any outstanding bills, and plans to use some to buy the home.

Hannah has worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years and has been with partner Rob, 31, for five years.

The couple share five children, Matilda, Rowan, Nathan, Lily and Gorgie.

Omaze Yorkshire Grand Prize Winner Jo Booth, who won a £2.5 million house in October last year.

She said: “I’m so happy that I encouraged Hannah to enter, she’s lovely and her beautiful family really deserves this win. I always leave a good tip whenever we go out, but nothing will ever top £500k. She said I'm her lucky charm now. I was joking that I really should be on commission from Omaze.”