April, not exactly.

Отель is a hotel that calls itself a "hotel". We apply either word to most of hotels abroad. We can call it отель, because it is how it calls itself or we can call it гостиница.

When <em>naming</em> it, say, "Hilton Hotel" we rather say "отель Хилтон" than "гостиница Хилтон".

But only a few hotels in Russia are "отель". Ivan here refers to what "отель" sound like in Russia. It sounds <em>foreign</em>. But if I come to a foreign country, I absolutely can call it "отель" irrespectively of its service, just because it is a "hotel". Or I also can call it a гостиница.

I do not apply "гостиница" to the kinds of foreign hotels that are called differently in Russia, though even then it depends on context.

If I'm booking a tour to a Mediterranean country and choose one of those huge sea-side hotels with beaches, spa, pools and entertainment for kids I'm much more likely to call it a "hotel", because things named "гостиница" in Russia don't work this way:))) More precisely, they didn't work this way in USSR (the closest Soviet thing was "sanatorium") and while now there are some such hotels here, they are less popular.

But when I'm already there I can say "let's go back to гостиница" because now it is not a "large building with a beach, pool, ...", it is "a place where I don't feel at home, but can have some rest on a bed and where my things are".

As Inna says, Гостиница is the original while Отель is a recent loanword. It's a bit like the original Anglo Saxon word <em>eatery</em> and the French loanword <em>restaurant</em>. No difference.

Hi, April. Отель=Гостиница. The word Hotel came in Russian language recently. The word Гостиница comes from word гости-guests.

Thank you to those who responded to my question. For some reason, I cannot reply to you individually.

Ivan, so, Отеле and Гостинице are like hotel and motel in the United States...

In fact, отель is not a recent loanword. This word is listed in Dahl's dictionary dated to as early as 1861. http://slovardalja.net/word.php?wordid=22827

As for the meaning, the words are largely interchangeable. That being said, отель suggests something large and fashionable. So, a top-tier hotel with a reputed brand name would be an отель. By contrast, it would probably be better to refer to a no-name mid-tier hotel as a гостиница.

So, to put it simply, an отель is a large and fashionable гостиница, but not every гостиница is an отель.