Pacific Express Inn

This is a pig with lipstick. It looks nice outside but you will find the problems after you pay and stay. These 3 & 4 star ratings must be fake. The owners are interested in making money and not client comfort. The heater did not work. Rust came from bathroom sink faucet. Shower water was luke warm. Very basic tv channels on an ancient tv, no ESPN, no movie channels. I stayed in a hostel that had 48″ flat screen HD and all channels for 54 a night; an antique place but super clean and nice. They made the effort there as this place does not. With only a little effort here it could be a nice stop. The shower heater is turned way down to save money. Outside smells like cat urine and feces. The 1 star is for the outside lighting to make the appearance look good. I would not stay here again for even $ 20 a night.
Pay the extra or go somewhere they care about you.

We stayed here one night on our road trip before going to San Francisco. For 50 $ a night, for the smallest room it was good value for money. The room was nice and clean, equiped with both fridge and microwave. A heads up though if you are sensitive to noise, from our room you could hear the traffic from the freeway next to the motel quite well. We also found it hard to get reception on the wifi.

Sooo. I travel for work… a lot. And there’s always a budget associated with said travels — so staying in 5-​star accomodations isn’t usual — I have to make it work for under $ 75 usually — especially if I think I might want a steak dinner once I settle in!
I’m going to be making weekly trips to Merced and figure I may as well start checking out the local roach-​motels — seeing how I’ll most likely be staying at them and not at the Marriott — hence the Pacific Express Inn.
There appears to be two motel/​hotel strips in Merced, one at 16^th and V Streets (super seedy) and the other on Motel Drive (ohhh, a little less seedy.). I cruised through both and chose the Motel Drive strip for obvious reasons (liquor store within walking distance, less shady people lurking, near residential neighborhood, rather than an industrial or business area that would turn abandoned after 8 pm, etc).
When I choose cheap lodging I go in BIG on the amenities — POOLS are important, so is wifi, general site security (lighting, view out to the street, etc) and lack of lots of live-​in tenants (crack kills, yo).
On this particular trip, Pacific Express Inn won — there was a huge, sparkling pool, wifi and the rate was right — $ 55 for a room with one queen size bed.
The room was standard, carpet was not sticky, non-​smoking, bedding smelled like clean laundry and my bedbug inspection turned up NO bedbugs (plus-​plus!). The air conditioning was already running before I even checked in, so the room was plenty cool — and it was set to run automatically, so no roasting or freezing to death — it kicked on and off as it should (lovely!).
The TV was big, with the standard array of local channels and of course, HBO. I don’t watch TV much, so that’s neither here nor there for me.
The wifi worked, thought the signal was weak and so… my company VPN kept kicking me off — if I had major deadlines, that would have sucked — since I didn’t, this forced me to go to the POOL.
Then there was the bathroom — huge bathroom — with a corner standing shower. Both the sink and the toilet were clean to a fault — but the shower — now that was an ENTIRELY different story. Hard water to the max on the glass doors (umm, hello — CLR??), rusty looking framing and the tile itself looked questionable. The water pressure was fine and the water did come out of the head clear — and I am well versed in the use of shower shoes — but I went to pains to NOT touch the walls when I was inside the shower!
There was no power outlet in the bathroom, so sike! Thought you were going to blow dry your hair in the bathroom? No, no you weren’t! And there were precious few outlets in the room, period — I had to hunt for one behind the TV to plug in my laptop!
Oh — and being that this is Merced, there were certainly come colorful characters staying at this joint — one room attracted the attention of CPS and the local police. Needless to say, I minded my own business.
Long story short — the price & location was right, pool was clean, shower was questionable and wifi was weak.
Staying for an extended business trip? NO, don’t do it! Need a place for the night en route to Yosemite — PERFECT.
Don’t forget your shower shoes, swim suit and beach towel!