RCI Travel is run by ICE, which also runs the SFX travel store for SFX, the Vida Lifestyle for Vidanta, and a similar travel store for Pueblo Bonito. I'm sure there are others as well. The model they use is to provide some form of credit like the savings dollars with RCI that can be used for credit towards purchases of cruises typically, some other travel expenses, some shopping, wine, etc. In general, the net prices wind up being comparable to what it would cost through other travel aggregators or discount shopping sites. There are some fairly decent deals in each of the different set ups; with RCI the restaurant.com certificates are the best use IMHO because they don't require you to pay any additional money to get them, though there are minimum purchase requirements at the restaurants ultimately when you use them. They typically have a price match guarantee based upon the net price after the savings dollars or other credits are applied, which you could take as an indicator of what value they place on the savings dollars (closer to 0 than $.03).
That being said, it's not a bad thing because it gives you another option to look at for pricing hotels if you need one, rental cars, flights, etc. I just never lose any sleep if my savings dollars or other credit currency with ICE expire. I also don't look at them as a great influencer for where I spend my travel dollars because I recognize their actual value.