diff --git a/hipchat/connection.py b/hipchat/connection.py
index da7d571..7f93a0e 100644
--- a/hipchat/connection.py
+++ b/hipchat/connection.py
@@ -30,7 +30,27 @@ def call_hipchat(cls, ReturnType, url, data=True, **kw):
         req.add_data(urlencode(kw.items()))
     if hipchat.config.proxy_server and hipchat.config.proxy_type:
         req.set_proxy(hipchat.config.proxy_server, hipchat.config.proxy_type)
-    return ReturnType(json.load(urlopen(req)))
+    try:
+        res = urlopen(req)
+    except HTTPError, e:
+        resp = "".join(e.readlines())
+        try:
+            err_resp = json.loads(resp)
+        except ValueError:
+            raise Exception(
+                "unknown error: %d response was: %s" % (
+                    e.getcode(), resp
+                ),
+            )
+        error = err_resp.get("error", {})
+        raise Exception(
+            "%d %s error: %s" % (
+                error.get("code", -1),
+                error.get("type", "unknown"),
+                error.get("message", "no message"),
+            )
+        )
+    return ReturnType(json.load(res))
 
 
 class HipChatObject(object):
diff --git a/hipchat/room.py b/hipchat/room.py
index fd7fa89..4113a27 100644
--- a/hipchat/room.py
+++ b/hipchat/room.py
@@ -25,5 +25,13 @@ def __init__(self, jsono):
                         ReturnType=lambda x: map(Room, map(lambda y: {'room': y}, x['rooms'])), 
                         url="https://api.hipchat.com/v1/rooms/list", 
                         data=False))
+
+Room.create = classmethod(
+    partial(call_hipchat, Room, url="https://api.hipchat.com/v1/rooms/create", data=True)
+)
+Room.topic = classmethod(
+    partial(call_hipchat, ReturnType=lambda x: x['status'], url="https://api.hipchat.com/v1/rooms/topic", data=True)
+)
+
 Room.message = classmethod(partial(call_hipchat, ReturnType=MessageSentStatus, url="https://api.hipchat.com/v1/rooms/message", data=True))
 Room.show = classmethod(partial(call_hipchat, Room, url="https://api.hipchat.com/v1/rooms/show", data=False))