Waiting room

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A waiting room or waiting hall is a building, or more commonly a part of a building or a room, where people sit or stand until the event or appointment for which they are waiting begins.

There are two types of physical waiting room. One has individuals leave for appointments one at a time or in small groups, for instance at a doctor's office, a hospital triage area, or outside a school headmaster's office. The other has people leave en masse such as those at railway stations, bus stations, and airports. Both examples also highlight the difference between waiting rooms in which one is asked to wait (private waiting rooms) and waiting rooms in which one can enter at will (public waiting rooms).

There are also digital waiting rooms that operate within on-line video conferencing applications such as Zoom developed by Zoom Video Communications. This is a virtual waiting room where participants can be held until such time as the host allows them to enter the meeting.