Vaguely going places by barely leaving hotel? (7)

I believe the answer is:

loosely

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'vaguely' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'going places by barely leaving hotel?' is the wordplay.
'going places' becomes 'loos' (places to 'go').
'by' becomes 'per' (I've seen this in another clue).
'barely' indicates the central letters (the word is bare of its external letters).
'leaving hotel?' becomes 'ly' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The centre of 'per' is 'e'.
'loos'+'e'+'ly'='LOOSELY'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for loosely that I've seen before include "Not exactly" , "more or less" , "without restraint" , "Generally" , "Vaguely" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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