Alpine skiing and snowboarding is the anchor activity for every ski family hotel on the UFH list, and the quality gap between properties is determined almost entirely by how well the ski school operation integrates with the hotel logistics rather than by snow conditions or terrain variety. Any competent ski resort has adequate terrain. What varies is whether a family with a four-year-old, a nine-year-old, and two adults of different ability levels can get everyone to the right place, on the right equipment, at the right time, without the morning becoming the hardest part of the day.

The UFH bar is operational. A qualifying property must have a ski school with age-grouped children's programs starting at three or four years old, a boot room and equipment rental that is staffed and efficient rather than a self-service chaos point, and a meeting point for ski school that doesn't require a shuttle or a walk in ski boots. The best properties have ski school meeting the children at the hotel entrance. The gap between that and a ten-minute walk to a shared meeting plaza at 8:45 AM is the gap between a good ski trip and an exhausting one.

The snowboard program matters separately. Teenagers who aren't interested in skiing will often engage with snowboarding, and a property that has invested in a dedicated snowboard school with a terrain park or beginner area keeps that age group in the activity rather than losing them to the games room by day two.

Below are the UFH properties with alpine ski and snowboard, sorted by editorial score.