diff --git a/vmware_nsx/common/exceptions.py b/vmware_nsx/common/exceptions.py
index 85ecea48d0..be39f76548 100644
--- a/vmware_nsx/common/exceptions.py
+++ b/vmware_nsx/common/exceptions.py
@@ -127,7 +127,13 @@ class NoRouterAvailable(n_exc.ResourceExhausted):
 
 class ManagerError(NsxPluginException):
     message = _("Unexpected error from backend manager (%(manager)s) "
-                "for %(operation)s")
+                "for %(operation)s %(details)s")
+
+    def __init__(self, **kwargs):
+        kwargs['details'] = (': %s' % kwargs['details']
+                             if 'details' in kwargs
+                             else '')
+        super(ManagerError, self).__init__(**kwargs)
 
 
 class ResourceNotFound(ManagerError):
diff --git a/vmware_nsx/nsxlib/v3/client.py b/vmware_nsx/nsxlib/v3/client.py
index caa122c2f8..adf22fd6a3 100644
--- a/vmware_nsx/nsxlib/v3/client.py
+++ b/vmware_nsx/nsxlib/v3/client.py
@@ -101,17 +101,23 @@ class RESTClient(object):
 
     def _validate_result(self, result, expected, operation):
         if result.status_code not in expected:
+            result_msg = result.json() if result.content else ''
             LOG.warning(_LW("The HTTP request returned error code "
                             "%(result)d, whereas %(expected)s response "
                             "codes were expected. Response body %(body)s"),
                         {'result': result.status_code,
                          'expected': '/'.join([str(code)
                                                for code in expected]),
-                         'body': result.json() if result.content else ''})
+                         'body': result_msg})
 
             manager_error = ERRORS.get(
                 result.status_code, nsx_exc.ManagerError)
-            raise manager_error(manager=self._host_ip, operation=operation)
+            if type(result_msg) is dict:
+                result_msg = result_msg.get('error_message', result_msg)
+            raise manager_error(
+                manager=self._host_ip,
+                operation=operation,
+                details=result_msg)
 
     @classmethod
     def merge_headers(cls, *headers):