Some details of the synthesis peculiarities of the intermetallic Gd3Ni6Al2 compound have been studied. It has been shown that this compound can only be prepared after prolonged annealing of a multiphase product obtained by melting of the constituent metals in a stoichiometric ratio. However, even after this treatment the samples contain some impurities, as proved by X-ray and electron microprobe analysis. As a result of a kinetic study on hydrogen uptake, the formation of a ternary hydride with a maximum content of 8.6 H atoms per formula unit of Gd3Ni6Al2 has been confirmed. In this hydride the original cubic Ca3Ag8-type structure is preserved and only an increase of the unit cell parameter of about 1.45% is observed. Resistivity and low field magnetization measurements have shown the occurrence of ferromagnetic ordering in Gd3Ni6Al2 at Tc = 118(1) K. The value of Msat = 7.34(4)B = 4.8 T, which is very close to the saturation moment of 7.0 μB calculated for Gd3 ion. Hydrogen absorption leads to an important decrease of the Curie temperature (Tc = 69(1) K for Gd3Ni6Al2H8.6). Similarly to the parent compound, a value of 7.0(1) μB/Gd is obtained for the saturation moment of the hydride at B = 4.8 T. An attempt is made to explain this behaviour by a non-uniform spatial distribution of H atoms in the hydrided sample as well as by a weakening of the GdGd interactions in this sample caused by the increase of the lattice constant.