diff --git a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
index 1f812ed326624..bfee0bc079387 100644
--- a/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
+++ b/datadog_checks_base/datadog_checks/base/checks/base.py
@@ -207,7 +207,10 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
             self.debug_metrics.update(self.instance.get('debug_metrics', {}))
 
         # `self.hostname` is deprecated, use `datadog_agent.get_hostname()` instead
-        self.hostname = datadog_agent.get_hostname()  # type: str
+        if self.instance is not None and self.instance.get('empty_default_hostname', False):
+            self.hostname = ""
+        else:
+            self.hostname = datadog_agent.get_hostname()  # type: str
 
         logger = logging.getLogger('{}.{}'.format(__name__, self.name))
         self.log = CheckLoggingAdapter(logger, self)