I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet ... but if Delta still doesn't drop anyone more than one level per year, you'd still be Gold. Granted, it's not quite as exalted as Platinum, but you get the same mileage bonus and some of the other benefits. So, if you take the money, it's not as if you'd go into total non-status exile.

And I agree that living there is worth more than 60 percent of what they would have spent on travel anyhow. They ought to be willing to give you more than they would have spent on travel, because they'll get more work out of you! With travel, you'd be on site for 12 days in a four-week (to simplify the numbers) month, plus whatever you can get done in eight days on the plane. Figure out what fraction of a day that is, add them up, subtract from 20, and they're getting that much more for free every month. If they don't think that's worth something, then the three-week month or the 60 percent plus a trip home every three weeks, as suggested by prior posters, can be win-wins.