OK - the good stuff first. 1. Location is very central and most sites are no more than a very leisurely 15/20 minute stroll. 2. Standard room bed was very comfortable. 3. Breakfast is generous by many standards - but not the best quality, still more than adequate.
So - the bad stuff. 1. Unlike many website advertisements, Internet is NOT free. 2. Standard rooms are smallish & OLD. Bedside lamps literally fell out of the wall when trying to turn them on & nearly electrocuted my wife. 3. Our early June visit corresponded with a somewhat unseasonal heat wave of over 30 degrees each day. The advertised Air Conditioning was pitiful. I know there are special regulations in Italy regarding the use of air conditioning in hotels, so I can reserve some judgement here - nonetheless it did not make for a pleasant night's sleep and none of the staff where all that interested in helping. 4. The staff are mostly ambivalent about the guests. I speak passable Italian and even this did not help - one exception, there is a lovely young lady who was very pleasant and eager to assist - thank god for her!!! 5. The area is not salubrious, but unlike other reviewers, we had no problems and did not feel threatened or in danger in any way. Turin has a large Arabic population and many live/ work around this area. 5. In some reviews (esp. Lonely Planet) they suggest that all the rooms are very spacious and include either a sauna or spa in the bathroom. This is incorrect for standard rooms. The "deluxe" rooms are larger, nicer and have these features (I snuck a look when the maid wasn't looking), but standard rooms are on the wrong side of the old & outdated. 6. Cleanliness wasn't great. We had no problems with sheets & towels and the initial impression was the room was clean if grubby from wear & tear. However under the bed was very dusty, a thick veneer. On top of the wall mounted TV there was a thick layer of dust. Inside the air conditioner - around the compressor, there was so much dust I wondered if this was in fact the real reason the air conditioner. 7. Service - small things like no toilet paper when we arrived. Poor, poor, poor. Breakfast was OK, but again the replenishment of some items was slow. Trying to get some tourist information from front desk staff was not easy.
Summary: There is no one single thing which makes the standard rooms here bad, but there are a collection of many smaller issues which mean its hard to recommend this hotel to anyone. Perhaps 1 or 2 nights in spring or autumn when its not too hot or cold and if you really need to be close to the Porta Nuova railway station. But really, I would look for other options if possible OR if money is less of an issue, go for a Deluxe room as these seemed to eliminate most of the negative issues we experienced.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC