Hotel worker wins £500K after advice from Omaze million pound house winner

Watch lucky Hannah Symes, 31, as she celebrates winning £500k - after meeting a woman who had just won a house.

In the video (click to play above) Hannah explains how she’d had the ‘worlds best tip’ from a guest - who was in her area because she had ‘just won an Omaze house’ nearby.

When mum-of-five Hannah was checking-in her guest, she “casually asked what Jo had planned during her stay”.

It was then that her guest revealed that she was in Yorkshire as she’d just won an Omaze house worth £2.5m.

Hannah, originally from Plymouth but now living in North Yorkshire, said: “I was just having a casual chat with the lovely Jo as I was checking her into the hotel, it was then she told me all about Omaze and why she was in Yorkshire.

''I thought to myself ‘that sounds like a bit of alright’. So I gave Omaze a Google and it all looked great, amazing houses and raising money for charities, so I thought, ‘what’s there to lose’ and signed up that very same day.

''Safe to say it's the best question I've ever asked and the best tip I've ever had!”

On the moment she found out she’d won half a million pounds, she said: “Just two months after meeting Jo, 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.”

She said her life ‘changed in an 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.”

Hannah has so far used her money to pay off some outstanding bills, and is looking at buying her first home - meaning an end to renting after the ‘life-changing’ win.

“We’ve not told the kids yet, but they know something is up as we did all go to Legoland in style, and they’ve all got some new clothes. I can’t wait to see their faces light up when we tell them! We’re also going to Lapland for Christmas - at this rate, we’re not ruling out Disneyland!”

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. They currently live in a rented four-bedroom house in North Yorkshire.

Omaze Yorkshire Grand Prize Winner Jo Booth, 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!”

James Oakes, President of Omaze, said: “We’re thrilled that Hannah and her family have won such a life-changing sum of money, and that it's all down to one of our previous winners sharing her very own life-changing experience.

“We’re tremendously proud that not only do we transform the lives of our winners, but the Omaze Community has also raised over £77 million for good causes across the UK.”

The draw that Hannah entered helped raise £4.6 million for British Heart Foundation. It was the third time BHF has partnered with Omaze and brings the total raised for the charity to £7.6 million.

Enter the Omaze Million Pound House Draw

The latest Omaze draw guarantees that one lucky person will win a stunning £4 million property in the Scottish Highlands, along with £250,000 in cash. The winner of the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Scotland, will get the keys to a contemporary 4-bedroom property that sits on the shores of Loch Rannoch in Perthshire.

The spectacular house offers uninterrupted views of the surrounding Scottish Highlands including the Black Woods of Rannoch and the Southern Rannoch mountains, as well as its very own all-weather tennis court.

In addition to making its Grand Prize Winner a multi-millionaire, Omaze has guaranteed a minimum donation of £1 million for charity partner Alzheimer's Research UK.

Draw entries for the Omaze Million Pound House Draw, Scotland, are available now at omaze.co.uk. The Grand Prize Draw closes on Sunday 30th March 2025 for online entries and Tuesday 1st April 2025 for postal entries.

Entrants can also choose to subscribe to Omaze to be automatically entered into every Grand Prize Draw each month and all Early Bird Prize Draws. Omaze subscribers receive four times the amount of entries compared to non-subscribers and can cancel their subscription at any time.

For full terms and conditions, see www.omaze.co.uk. No purchase necessary to enter. Over 18s and UK residents only.