I think we will only see the end result once the season rental goes. IF the owners are the one that are able to say whether they can rent their cards as a season or daily, then your worry is answered. If the owner thinks there's little incentive for the season rental, then rent it as daily.
As I see it, there's two types of players that rent. One are the type of players, like me, they rent for the whole season and play everyday.
The others are the ones who rent every 2 days, play in 2-3 days to 50% then wait for 2 days until the energy goes to 100% until they play again.
This kind of depicts whether a player prefers season rental or daily rentals meaning both rentals would still be used.
As for the incentive in season rental, you have the card rented for the whole 14 days regardless if the player plays it or not. If he decided not to play and cancel, Oops, he can't. I don't know what the "incentive" you're looking for since you rent your cards in order for it to "get rented" right?
Thanks konaqua for the reply. But I don't see there's really any reason for the owner to "list as season rental". Like you say, daily rentals are not guaranteed. But neither is the season rental. FYI I'm thinking about Gold league and Up where rentals get pricey.
Consider the following options as a big card owner that wants to rent out cards:
Option A: It's a new season. Rates are low right now - many of my cards are renting for 2-3 DEC per day. I'll price low to rent for a few days. Then I spend 1 DEC (so what, maybe works out to cost me 0.5 DEC/Day per listing) to raise my average prices by another 3 DEC per day. I can control how aggressively I price my rentals - whether I am handling myself, or using a rental service, they can be kept near the market price, and market price usually increases. If not, I don't need to pay any relisting fee until it's economical to do so.
Option B: It's a new season. I want to list my cards for season rent on day 1. What do I want to charge? I can list my rental cards at the beginning of season rates, and they definitely will get rented - but I don't get to reprice them when rates go up later. So maybe I want to set them at a "Average Season Rate", they will be more expensive to players for a number of days. What if, after all that time, my first estimate for a good rate was too high? Then, after 7 days of no renting, I still have to spend DEC to reprice lower halfway through the season?
To me, as a card owner, Scenario A (daily rental) has a much lower risk of cards being unrented for long periods.