A hotel receptionist has revealed she won £500,000 after she was encouraged to enter the famed Omaze prize – by a former winner who previously scooped a £2,500,000 home.
Hannah Symes, 31, took home half a million in cash after she met Jo Booth by chance after she came to stay at the hotel where Hannah worked.
As Hannah was checking Jo in, she asked her what she planned to do during her stay – which is when Jo revealed that she was staying in Yorkshire as she’d actually just won an Omaze house.
‘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,’ Hannah, who is originally from Plymouth and now lives in North Yorkshire, shares.
‘Safe to say it’s the best question I’ve ever asked and the best tip I’ve ever had.’
Two months after she met Jo, she had an email from Omaze. She was told she’d won something from them, and they wanted to call her.
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That morning, she’d been up since 5am researching the details of a trip to Legoland with her five children for her son’s birthday. Pricing it all up, she realised that the cost was going to be ‘astronomical,’ so when she realised she’d struggle to afford it, she felt ‘disheartened.’
‘Before Omaze called to let me know exactly what I’d won, my head was going ten to the dozen thinking what it could be,’ Hannah, who has worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years, reflects.
‘I knew it wasn’t a house as the current draw hadn’t closed yet, but it just didn’t click that it might be money.’
The next thing she knew, Omaze was telling her she’d won £500,000 – and their lives were forever changed in a mere instant.
‘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 says.
The money’s timing was perfect not just because it meant she could afford that trip to Legoland after all: the prize was drawn the day before her birthday, and was subsequently the ‘best birthday present’ Hannah had ever had.
‘I couldn’t believe it when the money landed in my account, I had to do a double take; I’ve never seen so many zeros in my life,’ Hannah adds.
‘As soon as I got the money, I started paying off all our outstanding bills. It was amazing seeing the bills disappear, but still having so much money left in the bank; it was the best feeling.’
As the family currently rent, their ‘biggest priority’ is using the money to secure a home of their own, and they’re currently looking at five and six-bedroom houses.
Last year, they were given notice on their previous property the same day Hannah went into labour with their youngest daughter, Matilda, leaving them with the ‘added drama’ of having to secure a new home with a newborn, alongside their four other children, Rowan, Nathan, Lily and Gorgie.
It affirmed to them that they didn’t have the ‘stability’ they so desperately craved.
‘It hadn’t been the easiest of years in general, to be honest. I ended up giving birth to Matilda on the A64 in the back of an ambulance, as she had breached,‘ Hannah shares.
‘We thought my partner Rob was going to have to deliver her with help from the ambulance service over the phone at one point.
‘But now this money has come at the perfect time for us, it’s a miracle really. The kids are going to love the new house we buy, there’ll be loads of room for all of us, we can finally have some privacy for the first time in ten years.’
On what her win means to the family, Hannah, who often works 50-hour weeks, notes that it’s taken ‘away all the stresses we previously had and allows us to look at life differently.’
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‘It’s not just the stuff we can buy,’ she concludes. ‘It’s the time we can spend with the children now, to us, that’s priceless.’
Naturally, Jo was absolutely thrilled when she realised that her tip had encouraged Hannah to enter the Omaze prize.
‘I’m so happy that I encouraged Hannah to enter, she’s lovely and her beautiful family really deserves this win,’ she says.
‘I always leave a good tip whenever we go out, but nothing will ever top £500,000. She said I’m her lucky charm now.’
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