LOL...you ran into something wonky with the way rental agencies price long-haul one-way rentals. I've had that happen before. Price to ITH = insane. Price to SYR = semi-sane...

Look at all your fine print on the rental - make sure your lower BDL rate doesn't include mileage charges or drop off fees. Those still occasionally exist in the one-way world, even though they no longer do on "normal" (local) rentals.

The hotel front desk can phone a taxi for you. There may be a Super Shuttle type service as well. (I hate those in major cities, but it's possible that to a smaller airport, your hotel might know of a local one that is close to a nonstop shot to BDL.) It's about a 20 mile ride... Uber/Lyft would of course be cheaper, but for a one-time use it's probably not worth worrying about it.