OUR STORY
The idea for Canape Connection was born very spontaneously, sometime in 2008, during a trip to Dublin of Nadia and Nadia, where the two passionate travelers were inspired by the bad conditions in the hostel where they stayed, but the great atmosphere at the same time there. Then they decided to make the “dream hostel” in Sofia, at which they would be happy to stay and will feel good. In which not to compromise with the conditions, but also to have a travel atmosphere.
So, April 2010, Canape Connection Hostel opened in a big apartment on the corner of Shishman Street. Every detail of the equipment and decorations were handmade and personally made by the founders of Canape: Ivo, Nadia and Nadia – handmade beds with original design, and installation. Author paintings on the walls by friends of artists and more. There wasn’t eve a thing that happened by accident. Many friends and relatives got involved, it was a great organization, family reunion, a lot of hard work and a lot of spirit, a lot of inspiration and a positive emotion for developing the whole idea.
2010 was filled with a lot of work, a lot of great guests, a lot of new friends, a lot of emotions.
With the start of the 2011, it turned out that the hostel had to be physically moved due to problems with the neighbors. It was an unexpected moment and somehow it brought us to the beginning. But we did not give up. It was very difficult, on the edge of giving up, but we continued. We moved the Canape Connection Hostel to 12A Gladstone Street, where it was located until December 15, 2019.
Of course, the new location was properly cared for and became the cozy second home of Canape. Again with the combined efforts of friends and relatives it became a magical place. We started from the beginning, because according to the reservation systems rules, we had to reset the ratings, which in the beginning of 2011 were the highest in Sofia. We started at 0. But that made us even more demanding of ourselves and made things even better.
2011, 2012 and 2013 were the most precious years. We had the highest rating again, we were all booked during the high season, so we had about 15 walkins every day, but we had to send them somewhere else because of the inability to accept them. Many of them wanted to sleep even on the ground, but only to stay with us. We had many fresh colleagues, partners and guests. Yes, guests. We have never treated them as clients, they have always been part of our family. They had the same attitude as us – every second guest invited us to their home no matter if they lived near or at the end of the world. We didn’t wait for another call, so started visiting them 🙂
2014 and 2015 we started thinking about expanding. We also made private rooms, so the Canape Hostel became a Guest House. We decided to target a little more relaxed people, like us, lol. We ourselves started traveling differently and staying in more relaxed type of places. At this time staying at private apartments began to become popular in the world. And since we always began from ourselves and lived by our criteria, honest to ourselves and our guests, we could not develop a hostel anymore, but staying at other places. Here’s what we did as a change in the interior:
The change was very exciting. Again the beds were hand-made and personally made by Ivaylo Daskalov. The lamps. The decoration. The combination of colors. Everything was the fruit of hard work and full of love and desire.
Again the author’s drawings and the personal attitude. In fact, personal attitude to everyone is the key in this HOSPITALITY business. Neither the beds, the walls, the drawings or the decoration make the accommodation unique. The attitude, sincere attitude and love what you do and the work of each one of our team makes Canape Connection what it is. Doesn’t matter is it is a hostel, guest house, with or without beds. The symbiosis between unique design, unique attitude, 24/7 commitment to the cause is what makes them different and desirable. Oh, I got excited as I wrote this 🙂
At the end of 2016, Zlaty (Nadia’s sister) came to replace Nadia and Ivo Daskalovi by documents and effort, so the business stayed in one of the families only. Then we started developing tour operating business as part of our brand.
In 2017, we expanded with our apartment on 6th September 58, where we are today. The attitude and the way we work has remained the same, no matter where we were.
In 2018 we rented another big apartment on September 6, 32, where we also did. Needless to say, our ratings remained leading for Sofia.
And so we lived well until 2019 when we decided to focus more on tourism so we left our apartment on 6ti septemvri 32, and from December 16 2019 we move out from our guest house on Gladstone Str. A new owner of the house there appeared who moved in to live there. We had to remove some of our old drawings, but we left the hand-made furniture to him, because he liked it a lot 🙂
Just before the new 2020, we have ONLY one apartment on 6-ti September 58 but many big ideas, so we need the time to devote ourselves and energy to them. Happy New Year! 🙂
Request a Quote