When asking yourself about something to do near me in Austin with a group of friends or family, consider
UBSki
Why UBSki is a fun option when searching for things to do near me with friends and family
UBSki is a renowned travel company that has specialized in providing unforgettable winter and spring break ski trips for college students since 1988. Founded by two fraternity brothers from the University of Texas at Austin, UBSki has grown into one of the largest and most popular providers of ski vacations tailored specifically to college groups. What sets UBSki apart is its commitment to offering unbeatable value with luxury on-slope accommodations, discounted lift tickets valid at multiple resorts, ski and snowboard rentals, lessons, and convenient air or bus transportation. The company also delivers exceptional customer service with on-site support, free beer parties, and partnerships with campus organizations to meet the needs and preferences of college travelers. The timing of their trips, typically scheduled for the first week of January, ensures lower prices and shorter lift lines compared to peak holiday weeks. With over three decades of experience and strong industry relationships, UBSki makes ski vacations affordable, fun, and hassle-free for students seeking memorable college ski and board weeks.
Here's what people think of UBSki
As of recent, UBSki holds a 3-star rating based on 22 reviews.
Reviews for UBSki show a mixed picture, reflected in its 3.0-star rating from 22 reviews. Many users appreciate the company for its affordable packages that include attractive condos near the slopes, making group travel convenient and cost-effective. Positive remarks often highlight the value for money, the variety of destinations and trip dates offered, and the inclusive nature of the service—covering transportation, lift tickets, and rental options. Reviewers also commend the company’s efforts to create a festive atmosphere with events like free beer parties, enhancing the social aspect of the ski trips. However, some negative reviews note inconsistencies in customer service, delays in communication, and difficulties with trip refunds or changes. Complaints sometimes mention the quality of accommodations or discrepancies between advertised services and actual experiences. Despite these criticisms, the overall consensus suggests that UBSki remains a solid choice for college students seeking an affordable and lively ski vacation experience, especially for those prioritizing price and social gatherings. The company’s long-standing reputation and enduring presence in the market continue to make it a go-to option for many collegiate travelers.
Highlights from reviewers (Most Relevant)
Joe Yates
I have booked a trip for anywhere from 6 people to 15-20 people every year for 4-5 years through UBSKI and have had nothing but an absolutely incredible experience. They’ve always made it super easy, worked with us throughout multiple changes in # in our group to find the best accommodations, and never had a hiccup The last couple of years Vail Resorts threw a big curveball by cancelling all wholesale lift tickets for the 2020-2021 season as well as restricting lodging for unrelated party’s, and last year, changing the way they structured their lift tickets. With the # of groups UBISKI manages, I’m sure this caught them off-gaurd put a big backlog on keeping everything straight. I know there’s some recent reviews that aren’t the best, but I thinks COVID causing all of these changes is what caused issues for a small company. My experience has been nothing but 5 stars and beyond, and I would recommend UBSKI to any one. There’s no way to book a better ski trip and save as much on lift tickets and lodging as what they offer * We always stay in Breck and venture out to Keystone for a day, that has been our ritual and worked great for us year over year
Jim Tyra
Post Covid, UBSki has completely scammed us!! Phillip Cohen didn’t honor our reservation for a condo we set up 6 months ago, and we were ghosted on check-in day. We have been relying upon him and his lodging for 10+ years. As of February 2024, we spoke with 9 rental companies in Breckinridge, who had stopped doing business with him since 2019/2020. I do not recommend doing business with Phillip Cohen or UBSki.
Zach Hair
Used Ubski for several years without issue.. until last year. We booked a 2 person trip, for March 2022, at a lodge we had used through ubski in the past. It has a little 2 person lift (named snowflake or something like) just up the hill from the booking, a kitchenette and you could technically snowboard/ski all the way down to the parking lot once you got your bearings. Granted we booked later than usual, first week of February, but we paid more than a month in advance for the trip. We make the drive from Texas and left the day before our stay started. They also attempted to charge us multiple times but luckily my bank shut that down. 1st red flag: our lodging/ticket packets STILL hadn't been emailed (usually we got them the week before). Concerning but worth the discounted lift tickets so we shrugged it off and hit the road. A few hours into the trip, we get that email.. but.. 2nd red flag: PHILIP BOOKED A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLACE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AWAY VIA BUS. We immediately tried to reach out and got the ring around until he finally returned our calls after we got a hold of Suzy. Remember her, she's important later. 3rd flag: That IDIOT had the audacity to argue it was a better room (it wasn't in our opinions, we wanted the shortest access to and from the slops, somewhere to cook/shower/sleep and that was it) AND even argued that there was no lift at the original lodge. Bruh.. I've been several times and snapped back I can literally send pictures from previous trips. Then Phillip doubled down and said, and I quote, "you don't know what you're talking about, I've been going to breck since before you were born". Alright moron, not gonna argue with someone that ignorant. We told them this wasn't what we agreed on in the contracts and that we were going to need reimbursement for the food since we weren't going back to the replacement lodge every day for lunch. He said he would then proceeded to dodge calls all week. Suzy was the only life saver in this situation otherwise I'd have given 1 (or 0 if possible) stars. She finally got our return set up and took of an additional amount for the inconvenience. We didn't even have the correct packet to get into our room. Had to wait an hour, with groceries, outside our door for off hour maintenance to help. The kicker? We asked the lodge when he booked our rooms.. he booked them the day we hit the road. DESPITE immediately taking our payment a month in advance. My advice? Book the room yourself and use them for the lift tickets.. But that seems potentially sketchy from the other reviews as well. Trying out new companies this year and will update with my suggestion.
Caroline Howard
READ BEFORE EVER BOOKING - I would give it -1000 stars if that was an option. Phillip Cohen does not run a business with UBSki, he runs an elaborate scheme against individuals and their credit cards with false promises and flat out lies. If you want to arrive at the airport with NO place to stay and then arrive at the ski lift and have NO tickets - Phillip is your man. He stole over $800 from each member of my group (x8). What was supposed to be a fun vacation, ended up being a web of lies and deception. Once we arrived, he disappeared with no way of contact. His "cell phone" number provided is the same number given to book - aka the "office" phone number. No one answers once your trip starts and you are left to fend for yourself the rest of the way with nothing that you paid for. If you want to quickly been scammed out of your money - UBSki does it the best. I cannot express enough to NEVER give Phillip Cohen ANY access to your bank information. You will absolutely not receive what you paid for, because he simply doesn't book it. He lied multiple times, first "booking" us lift tickets at Vail that did not exist, which his associate told us about 3 days before we arrived prompting us to change our original reservation. He lied again about ever booking our agreed upon condo, he called me as I was on my way to the airport to tell me it never booked. He lied again when he sent a "confirmation" for our lift tickets for 3 days at Breckenridge, that he never booked. Simply put, Phillip Cohen runs a scam business where he steals money from anyone he can and then he ghosts you. It is possible he has drudged this so called "business" so far into debt he has no choice but to steal from the next group to pay off his debts to the prior groups that he owes money to. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM
Hunter Carter
STEER CLEAR AND DO NOT BOOK WITH UBSKI. Phillip Cohen, the owner, is a liar and incompetent. We picked a place to stay with a 5 minute walk from Main St in Breckenridge. We did not find out till THREE DAYS before the flight that he switched our location to a 15 minute DRIVE to Breckenridge. He initially expressed that he was sorry and would pay for our rental car and Ubers, which was a relief, only for him and the rest of the company to completely ghost us following the trip. No reimbursement was ever occurred and they will not return any calls or emails regarding his promise to reimburse us. Stay away from this company if you want to have a good trip. Money wasted and you have to deal with liars.
Joe Yates
I have booked a trip for anywhere from 6 people to 15-20 people every year for 4-5 years through UBSKI and have had nothing but an absolutely incredible experience. They’ve always made it super easy, worked with us throughout multiple changes in # in our group to find the best accommodations, and never had a hiccup The last couple of years Vail Resorts threw a big curveball by cancelling all wholesale lift tickets for the 2020-2021 season as well as restricting lodging for unrelated party’s, and last year, changing the way they structured their lift tickets. With the # of groups UBISKI manages, I’m sure this caught them off-gaurd put a big backlog on keeping everything straight. I know there’s some recent reviews that aren’t the best, but I thinks COVID causing all of these changes is what caused issues for a small company. My experience has been nothing but 5 stars and beyond, and I would recommend UBSKI to any one. There’s no way to book a better ski trip and save as much on lift tickets and lodging as what they offer * We always stay in Breck and venture out to Keystone for a day, that has been our ritual and worked great for us year over year
Jim Tyra
Post Covid, UBSki has completely scammed us!! Phillip Cohen didn’t honor our reservation for a condo we set up 6 months ago, and we were ghosted on check-in day. We have been relying upon him and his lodging for 10+ years. As of February 2024, we spoke with 9 rental companies in Breckinridge, who had stopped doing business with him since 2019/2020. I do not recommend doing business with Phillip Cohen or UBSki.
Zach Hair
Used Ubski for several years without issue.. until last year. We booked a 2 person trip, for March 2022, at a lodge we had used through ubski in the past. It has a little 2 person lift (named snowflake or something like) just up the hill from the booking, a kitchenette and you could technically snowboard/ski all the way down to the parking lot once you got your bearings. Granted we booked later than usual, first week of February, but we paid more than a month in advance for the trip. We make the drive from Texas and left the day before our stay started. They also attempted to charge us multiple times but luckily my bank shut that down. 1st red flag: our lodging/ticket packets STILL hadn't been emailed (usually we got them the week before). Concerning but worth the discounted lift tickets so we shrugged it off and hit the road. A few hours into the trip, we get that email.. but.. 2nd red flag: PHILIP BOOKED A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PLACE MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AWAY VIA BUS. We immediately tried to reach out and got the ring around until he finally returned our calls after we got a hold of Suzy. Remember her, she's important later. 3rd flag: That IDIOT had the audacity to argue it was a better room (it wasn't in our opinions, we wanted the shortest access to and from the slops, somewhere to cook/shower/sleep and that was it) AND even argued that there was no lift at the original lodge. Bruh.. I've been several times and snapped back I can literally send pictures from previous trips. Then Phillip doubled down and said, and I quote, "you don't know what you're talking about, I've been going to breck since before you were born". Alright moron, not gonna argue with someone that ignorant. We told them this wasn't what we agreed on in the contracts and that we were going to need reimbursement for the food since we weren't going back to the replacement lodge every day for lunch. He said he would then proceeded to dodge calls all week. Suzy was the only life saver in this situation otherwise I'd have given 1 (or 0 if possible) stars. She finally got our return set up and took of an additional amount for the inconvenience. We didn't even have the correct packet to get into our room. Had to wait an hour, with groceries, outside our door for off hour maintenance to help. The kicker? We asked the lodge when he booked our rooms.. he booked them the day we hit the road. DESPITE immediately taking our payment a month in advance. My advice? Book the room yourself and use them for the lift tickets.. But that seems potentially sketchy from the other reviews as well. Trying out new companies this year and will update with my suggestion.
Caroline Howard
READ BEFORE EVER BOOKING - I would give it -1000 stars if that was an option. Phillip Cohen does not run a business with UBSki, he runs an elaborate scheme against individuals and their credit cards with false promises and flat out lies. If you want to arrive at the airport with NO place to stay and then arrive at the ski lift and have NO tickets - Phillip is your man. He stole over $800 from each member of my group (x8). What was supposed to be a fun vacation, ended up being a web of lies and deception. Once we arrived, he disappeared with no way of contact. His "cell phone" number provided is the same number given to book - aka the "office" phone number. No one answers once your trip starts and you are left to fend for yourself the rest of the way with nothing that you paid for. If you want to quickly been scammed out of your money - UBSki does it the best. I cannot express enough to NEVER give Phillip Cohen ANY access to your bank information. You will absolutely not receive what you paid for, because he simply doesn't book it. He lied multiple times, first "booking" us lift tickets at Vail that did not exist, which his associate told us about 3 days before we arrived prompting us to change our original reservation. He lied again about ever booking our agreed upon condo, he called me as I was on my way to the airport to tell me it never booked. He lied again when he sent a "confirmation" for our lift tickets for 3 days at Breckenridge, that he never booked. Simply put, Phillip Cohen runs a scam business where he steals money from anyone he can and then he ghosts you. It is possible he has drudged this so called "business" so far into debt he has no choice but to steal from the next group to pay off his debts to the prior groups that he owes money to. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCAM
Hunter Carter
STEER CLEAR AND DO NOT BOOK WITH UBSKI. Phillip Cohen, the owner, is a liar and incompetent. We picked a place to stay with a 5 minute walk from Main St in Breckenridge. We did not find out till THREE DAYS before the flight that he switched our location to a 15 minute DRIVE to Breckenridge. He initially expressed that he was sorry and would pay for our rental car and Ubers, which was a relief, only for him and the rest of the company to completely ghost us following the trip. No reimbursement was ever occurred and they will not return any calls or emails regarding his promise to reimburse us. Stay away from this company if you want to have a good trip. Money wasted and you have to deal with liars.
How to reach UBSki
None
Website: None
Why rally at UBSki with your friends?
If you’re planning a memorable getaway with friends that combines adventure, convenience, and unbeatable value, UBSki is an excellent choice to rally around. Known widely as the go-to ski company for college groups, UBSki has mastered the art of putting together affordable, hassle-free ski trips with everything carefully organized for you and your crew. From luxurious slope-side condos to lift tickets covering multiple top-tier resorts, they take care of the logistics so your group can focus on making memories. Imagine arriving at your destination and skipping all the usual headaches—no standing in long lines for ticketing or rental gear, no scrambling to find suitable lodging, and no worrying about exorbitant prices because UBSki’s group rates are among the best you’ll find. It’s not just about skiing; it’s about the experience, the camaraderie, and the parties, all bound by UBski's reputation for reliability and top-notch customer service that keeps groups coming back year after year. When you gather your friends at UBSki, you’re setting the stage for a trip that’s not only fun and exciting but also smooth and stress-free from start to finish.
What activities does UBSki offer to make your group meetup unforgettable?
UBSki is more than just a standard ski trip organizer—it’s a full experience designed to cater to groups looking to blend adventure with social fun. The centerpiece of every UBSki trip is of course skiing and snowboarding, where your group gets access to lift passes valid at four premier resorts: Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Keystone. This multi-resort access means your group can explore different terrains and ski conditions without additional hassle or cost. Beyond skiing, UBSki packages typically include slope-side luxury condos that serve as the perfect gathering spot for your friends to relax, share meals, and swap stories after a day on the mountain. The on-site customer service team ensures your group’s needs are met promptly, helping with everything from equipment rentals to lesson bookings, making it seamless even for beginners. Another highlight is the social scene UBSki curates—free beer parties and group events provide excellent chances for everyone to mingle and enjoy the après-ski vibe. Whether your group wants an adrenaline-pumping day on fresh powder or a relaxed night of socials, UBSki’s offerings create a well-rounded, vibrant group experience.
Why is UBSki perfect for hosting group meetups for friends or family?
UBSki’s entire business model is built around creating the perfect environment for groups to come together effortlessly. First, their extensive experience of over 30 years and strong partnerships with resorts and local vendors mean they provide exclusive group rates on lodging, lift tickets, and rentals that are extremely budget-friendly. For large gatherings, the affordability factor is crucial, but UBSki also ensures quality through luxury condos located right on the slopes. This convenient location eliminates the usual friction of commuting, maximizing your group's time on the mountain and together in relaxing settings. Additionally, their highly organized approach to trip planning reduces the workload on your shoulders—their team handles registration, equipment rentals, and key logistics so that the hosts can enjoy the trip just as much as their guests. UBSki also caters especially well to college groups but is equally adaptable for family meetups or friend reunions due to their reliable service and festive atmosphere. The availability of multiple resort options and flexible trip dates means groups of all sizes and preferences can find something that fits perfectly. Ultimately, UBSki’s combination of affordability, quality accommodations, and turnkey service is what makes it especially suited as a group meetup destination.
How does UBSki ensure smooth logistics for large groups?
One of the standout features of UBSki is their professionalism and organizational prowess, which countless customers have praised. When you book with UBSki, you avoid the typical pitfalls of group travel such as long lines for lift tickets, complicated hotel check-ins, and frustrating rental procedures. Their system takes care of all registrations ahead of your arrival, so group members get right to the fun part—hitting the slopes. This is particularly helpful for groups, as it eliminates scrambling and delays that can fragment the experience. Additionally, UBSki’s on-site and phone support teams are available to handle any questions or issues efficiently. Their reputation for reliability means groups rarely face long waits or logistical headaches during their trips. Past testimonials highlight how their staff’s attention to detail—right down to condo maintenance and key returns—helps maintain a smooth and pleasant environment. For hosts, this means you can count on UBSki to run the operational side so you can concentrate purely on enjoying time with your friends or family. The logistical ease delivered by UBSki sets the foundation for a relaxed, worry-free group ski vacation.
What makes UBSki’s pricing and packages unique for groups?
UBSki’s pricing strategy is a key reason why it is so popular among college groups and other friend or family reunions. By leveraging decades of experience, volume bookings, and smart timing, UBSki offers ski packages priced 40%-60% lower than typical ski trip rates. They achieve this by partnering directly with resorts and service providers to obtain wholesale rates on lodging, lift tickets, and rentals. Their main trip window is the first week in January—after the holiday rush—which means shorter lift lines and discounted rates that get passed on to customers. The group package typically includes slope-side condos, lift tickets valid across four major resorts, ski or board rentals, and optional lessons, bundled in one easily managed deal. Customers also benefit from combined air or bus transportation arrangements, further reducing hassle and cost. This inclusive and well-priced offering means groups can enjoy a luxury ski experience without breaking the bank. By booking UBSki, you gain the best value for lodging, skiing, and entertainment, making it a strongly attractive choice for group meetups on a budget.
How does UBSki maintain its reputation among college and university groups?
UBSki has built and maintained its reputation largely through deep engagement with college campuses nationwide. They have a network of campus representatives, ski clubs, fraternities, and sororities that keep their service finely tuned to the preferences and budgets of college students. This connection ensures that UBSki can offer trips that are not only affordable but also socially vibrant and tailor-made for young adult groups. They are known as “the ski company with the best prices, best condos, and best service” on campuses, making them a popular choice for annual spring or winter break ski trips. Past customers frequently report memorable trips bolstered by UBSki’s organized parties, social events, and the convenience of all-in-one packages. Reviews from universities highlight the ease of planning with UBSki staff, who handle everything to relieve group organizers from stress. This dedication to the college demographic has helped UBSki sustain its position as a leader in group ski vacations for decades, ultimately translating to trust and loyalty from returning customers.
What additional benefits does UBSki provide for group meetups?
Besides the core focus on skiing and rental convenience, UBSki offers several extra benefits that enhance the group experience. The slope-side condos they arrange are often spacious, allowing large groups to easily gather for meals, games, or relaxation after skiing. Many testimonials mention the comfort and excellent location of these condos, providing a cozy home base that enhances camaraderie. UBSki also organizes social events such as free beer parties, creating fun opportunities to mingle and celebrate together. This party atmosphere complements the active daytime skiing and helps groups bond over shared experiences. Moreover, UBSki’s staff is known for going above and beyond in customer service, quickly responding to any needs or concerns which reduces stress during the trip. These thoughtful extras make the difference between a standard vacation and a truly enjoyable and memorable group getaway. Hosting a meetup at UBSki means your group will have access to everything required for both active adventure and social fun, all wrapped in a professional, customer-focused package.
In summary, UBSki offers an outstanding group getaway opportunity combining affordable luxury, extensive ski access, and expertly managed logistics. Its reputation among college groups and its comprehensive packages make it an excellent choice to rally your friends or family for an unforgettable ski adventure.