gathering place vs hangout

gathering place and hangout both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
gathering place	Yes	No	No	No
hangout	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, hangout is a hypernym of gathering place; that is, hangout is a word with a broader meaning than gathering place:

Other hypernyms of gathering place include haunt, repair, resort, stamping ground.

gathering place (noun)	hangout (noun)
a favorite haunt where people gather	a frequently visited place