One additional consideration we shouldn’t forget is the cost of the points. I own a very good RCI Points trading resort that costs me about 0.6 cents per point. Wyndham Points cost somewhere between 0.35 and 0.6 cents per point, I believe, depending on where you own. If you have VIP status with Wyndham, you can stretch the value of the points by taking advantage of discounts for reservations in the short term, up to 50% off in a couple of months for platinum. If you don’t consider the cost of the points you have and the alternate use of those points if you own the TS, you aren’t doing a thorough evaluation.
I also own a non-RCI TS that is enrolled in PIC with Wyndham. I can convert it to 154,000 Wyndham points for $89 and use those in that system or back in RCI; my MF is about $400, so the cost per point is about 0.3 cents that way. I can convert it to RCI Points for something like $30 last time I checked and get about 60,000 points at a cost of about 0.7 cents per point. Or I can deposit it in a different exchange like SFX and use it there, as well as whatever bonus weeks they give me.
To add to the confusion, many resorts charge resort fees that differ between the exchange systems used. I track the differences to see what my total cost for a vacation week will be using the different options available to me before I decide which one to use.
Room assignment can be influenced by how you book a reservation. At certain resorts you can manage the outcome by the category of unit you reserve. I don’t think it’s just RCI that gets lesser quality rooms, but have heard that about some resorts. They all have some priority by which they assign rooms, so if that’s important it should be taken into account.