Regarding rewards - Avis/Budget offer some decent third-party rewards without surcharges, mostly hotels. The ones that stick out to me for short term rentals are Best Western (Avis), Choice (Budget - Avis has it but has a surcharge), La Quinta (both) and Hyatt (Avis). Starwood offers 50 starpoints per day, which is surcharge free and converts to 50 or 62.5 (using 20,000 point increments) miles per day in many airlines.