For undergraduates heading to snowy Lake Tahoe, ski trip is a chance to get off campus, relax and throw a few snowballs. But to the companies that rent the cabins where Stanford students spend the weekend, busloads of undergraduates represent big business, a business they are forced to compete for. One company seems to have developed close ties with Assistant Director of Student Management Augie Galvan to get an edge in the competition.

No company has been more successful attracting that business than Michelsens Rental, a small outfit out of Stateline, Nev. Over the last several years, Michelsens Rental has been booked by many a house social manager, the people ultimately responsible for ski trip reservations. A great number of those social managers who chose to book their houses through Michelsens were making reservations on behalf of Row Houses. Invariably, Michelsens was recommended to these social managers by Galvan.

This year, at Social Manager Orientation, Galvan announced that he had pre-booked rental homes for Ski Trip, an act beyond his normal job description. The homes were booked for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Galvan told the social managers that all they had to do was confirm their reservations.

“No alternative companies were provided as sources of houses,” said one Row Social Manager who wished to remain anonymous. “But there was no requirement that you had to book your house through Michelsens.”

Another social manager, who also asked to remain unnamed, recalled that Galvan really pushed for Michelsens, “almost making them seem like the only option.”

Social managers who asked for Galvan’s help while booking homes were given the Michelsens phone number and told to “talk to Julie.”

Julie is Julie Holzhauer, the manager of Michelsens Properties who has been working at the Stateline office since August when she was hired by Gary Michelsen, the owner of the company and of most of the properties themselves. Gary’s relationship with Galvan went back for many years. For quite some time, Michelsens Rental had been offering Galvan two free weekends a year in one of his large properties by the lake.

“It was something they had always done,” Galvan said. “They really appreciate the business.”

“We have a working relationship with Augie,” Holzhauer said.

The working relationship is two-sided, according to Galvan, who used one of the free weekends to go up with ski trippers.

“Gary likes for me to be up there because when we first worked with them in the past there were some problems,” Galvan said.

This year was no exception. Galvan used the free weekend while ski trips were in progress. When one student broke his arm, Galvan was nearby to help manage the situation. He was staying in a Michelsen house with his two godchildren who he’d invited up for the weekend.

As for the other weekend that Michelsen offers Galvan, he insists that he rarely uses it.

“I use it every once in a while but not very often,” Galvan said, “I think I have only used it twice.”

But it still comes in handy.

“This year Mars said they had a date and Michelsens said they had a date and the dates weren’t the same,” Galvan said. “I was willing to say why not give Mars the perk Michelsens had given me.”

The misunderstanding between Mars and Michelsens was not the first confusion between the company and a Row social manager. A similar mishap with the company occurred last year when the Stanford Risk Management Department cancelled ski trips for all the dorms planning to head to Tahoe for the Jan. 7 weekend. Galvan told the students who still planned to go to the rental homes that they had booked through Michelsens Rental that the houses would be closed to them. Six Row houses were forced to cancel their trips, losing thousands in rental costs.

Galvan is still sticking by Michelsens.

“They are one of our many resources,” he said. “They are pretty flexible. They turn their heads a little bit. Having a relationship like that is really wonderful.”

Galvan maintains that the relationship between himself and Michelsens is in the best interest of the students for whom he says he feels a parental responsibility.

“I don’t think of it as a kickback,” Galvan said. “They offered it to me, and it is a good business practice for them.”

But that good business relationship may be severed. When The Daily contacted Julie Hanzhauer she reported that Michelsens would no longer be offering Galvan his two free weekends.

“It was the owner’s decision,” she said before refusing to give out Gary Michelsen’s contact information.

Galvan had not yet been informed of this decision by Michelsen, the man he says “likes having him up there.” Still, he took the news in stride.

“If they were to say that it’s not going to happen any more than it’s not going to — whatever — I will make every effort out of my own pocket to get up there,” he said.

Jane Camarillo, director of Residential Education, declined to comment.