diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/2241-vmware_guest_info-make-datacenter-property-optional.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/2241-vmware_guest_info-make-datacenter-property-optional.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..47de57e499
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/2241-vmware_guest_info-make-datacenter-property-optional.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - vmware_guest_info - `datacenter` property is now optional as it only required in cases where the VM is not uniquely identified by `name`.
+  - vmware.py - Add logic for handling the case where the `datacenter` property is not provided.
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/vmware.py b/plugins/module_utils/vmware.py
index 093aa6bb4f..9d545204f7 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/vmware.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/vmware.py
@@ -1226,9 +1226,9 @@ def get_vm(self):
             # following code tries to find user desired one depending upon the folder specified.
             if len(vms) > 1:
                 # We have found multiple virtual machines, decide depending upon folder value
-                if self.params['folder'] is None:
+                if self.params['folder'] is None or self.params['datacenter'] is None:
                     self.module.fail_json(msg="Multiple virtual machines with same name [%s] found, "
-                                          "Folder value is a required parameter to find uniqueness "
+                                          "try to specify folder and / or datacenter to ensure uniqueness "
                                           "of the virtual machine" % self.params['name'],
                                           details="Please see documentation of the vmware_guest module "
                                           "for folder parameter.")
diff --git a/plugins/modules/vmware_guest_info.py b/plugins/modules/vmware_guest_info.py
index 4f3678e372..1b2442e9e2 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/vmware_guest_info.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/vmware_guest_info.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
    folder:
      description:
      - Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest.
-     - This is required if O(name) is supplied.
+     - This is required if O(name) is supplied and not unique.
      - The folder should include the datacenter. ESX's datacenter is ha-datacenter
      - 'Examples:'
      - '   folder: /ha-datacenter/vm'
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@
    datacenter:
      description:
      - Destination datacenter for the deploy operation
-     required: true
+     - This is required if O(name) is supplied and not unique.
+     required: false
      type: str
    tags:
      description:
@@ -262,7 +263,7 @@ def main():
         use_instance_uuid=dict(type='bool', default=False),
         moid=dict(type='str'),
         folder=dict(type='str'),
-        datacenter=dict(type='str', required=True),
+        datacenter=dict(type='str'),
         tags=dict(type='bool', default=False),
         schema=dict(type='str', choices=['summary', 'vsphere'], default='summary'),
         properties=dict(type='list', elements='str'),
diff --git a/tests/integration/targets/vmware_vmotion/tasks/main.yml b/tests/integration/targets/vmware_vmotion/tasks/main.yml
index 3452cff49f..5f33a51afd 100644
--- a/tests/integration/targets/vmware_vmotion/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tests/integration/targets/vmware_vmotion/tasks/main.yml
@@ -17,30 +17,30 @@
     esxi_password: '{{ esxi_password }}'
     folder: '/DC0/host'
     state: present
-  with_items: "{{ esxi_hosts }}"
+  with_items: '{{ esxi_hosts }}'
 
 - name: Disable the Maintenance Mode
   vmware_maintenancemode:
     esxi_hostname: '{{ item }}'
     state: absent
-  with_items: "{{ esxi_hosts }}"
+  with_items: '{{ esxi_hosts }}'
 
 - name: Create VM
   vmware_guest:
-    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
-    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
-    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
-    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
+    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
+    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
+    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
+    datacenter: '{{ dc1 }}'
     validate_certs: false
     name: test_vm1
     folder: vm
-    esxi_hostname: "{{ esxi1 }}"
+    esxi_hostname: '{{ esxi1 }}'
     state: present
     guest_id: debian8_64Guest
     disk:
-    - size_gb: 1
-      type: thin
-      datastore: '{{ rw_datastore }}'
+      - size_gb: 1
+        type: thin
+        datastore: '{{ rw_datastore }}'
     hardware:
       version: 11
       memory_mb: 1024
@@ -62,8 +62,7 @@
 
 - assert:
     that:
-        - vm_vmotion.msg == "Failed to find the virtual machine with not_a_thing"
-
+      - vm_vmotion.msg == "Failed to find the virtual machine with not_a_thing"
 
 - name: Perform vMotion of virtual machine
   vmware_vmotion:
@@ -79,8 +78,7 @@
 - name: assert that changes were made
   assert:
     that:
-        - vm_vmotion is changed
-
+      - vm_vmotion is changed
 
 - name: Add ESXi Hosts to a cluster
   vmware_host:
@@ -90,13 +88,13 @@
     esxi_username: '{{ esxi_user }}'
     esxi_password: '{{ esxi_password }}'
     state: present
-  with_items: "{{ esxi_hosts }}"
+  with_items: '{{ esxi_hosts }}'
 
 - name: Disable the Maintenance Mode
   vmware_maintenancemode:
     esxi_hostname: '{{ item }}'
     state: absent
-  with_items: "{{ esxi_hosts }}"
+  with_items: '{{ esxi_hosts }}'
 
 - name: Perform vMotion of virtual machine to resource_pool
   vmware_vmotion:
@@ -112,7 +110,7 @@
 - name: assert that changes were made
   assert:
     that:
-        - vm_vmotion_to_rp is changed
+      - vm_vmotion_to_rp is changed
 
 - name: Perform storage vMotion of virtual machine
   vmware_vmotion:
@@ -128,4 +126,4 @@
 - name: assert that changes were made
   assert:
     that:
-        - vm_vmotion_to_datastore is changed
+      - vm_vmotion_to_datastore is changed