diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/remote_management/hpilo/hpilo_facts.py b/lib/ansible/modules/remote_management/hpilo/hpilo_facts.py
index 64c3f0227a..cbc520ebb7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/remote_management/hpilo/hpilo_facts.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/remote_management/hpilo/hpilo_facts.py
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ except ImportError:
     HAS_HPILO = False
 
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule, missing_required_lib
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
 
 
 # Suppress warnings from hpilo
@@ -178,7 +179,11 @@ def main():
     }
 
     # TODO: Count number of CPUs, DIMMs and total memory
-    data = ilo.get_host_data()
+    try:
+        data = ilo.get_host_data()
+    except hpilo.IloCommunicationError as e:
+        module.fail_json(msg=to_native(e))
+
     for entry in data:
         if 'type' not in entry:
             continue