diff --git a/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry.cc b/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry.cc
index 8505e8f01b99d..65cc2abb1cf44 100644
--- a/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry.cc
+++ b/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry.cc
@@ -100,8 +100,11 @@ void EndSpanImpl(opentelemetry::trace::Span& span, Status const& status) {
     span.End();
     return;
   }
+  // Note that the Cloud Trace UI drops the span's status, so we also write it
+  // as an attribute.
   span.SetStatus(opentelemetry::trace::StatusCode::kError, status.message());
   span.SetAttribute("gl-cpp.status_code", static_cast<int>(status.code()));
+  span.SetAttribute("gl-cpp.error.message", status.message());
   auto const& ei = status.error_info();
   if (!ei.reason().empty()) {
     span.SetAttribute("gcloud.error.reason", ei.reason());
diff --git a/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry_test.cc b/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry_test.cc
index 7940455cfa095..784f8b44a6491 100644
--- a/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry_test.cc
+++ b/google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry_test.cc
@@ -184,7 +184,9 @@ TEST(OpenTelemetry, EndSpanImplFail) {
       spans,
       ElementsAre(AllOf(
           SpanWithStatus(opentelemetry::trace::StatusCode::kError, "not good"),
-          SpanHasAttributes(OTelAttribute<int>("gl-cpp.status_code", code)))));
+          SpanHasAttributes(OTelAttribute<int>("gl-cpp.status_code", code),
+                            OTelAttribute<std::string>("gl-cpp.error.message",
+                                                       "not good")))));
 }
 
 TEST(OpenTelemetry, EndSpanImplErrorInfo) {
@@ -201,6 +203,7 @@ TEST(OpenTelemetry, EndSpanImplErrorInfo) {
           SpanWithStatus(opentelemetry::trace::StatusCode::kError, "not good"),
           SpanHasAttributes(
               OTelAttribute<int>("gl-cpp.status_code", code),
+              OTelAttribute<std::string>("gl-cpp.error.message", "not good"),
               OTelAttribute<std::string>("gcloud.error.reason", "reason")))));
 
   span = MakeSpan("domain");
@@ -213,6 +216,7 @@ TEST(OpenTelemetry, EndSpanImplErrorInfo) {
           SpanWithStatus(opentelemetry::trace::StatusCode::kError, "not good"),
           SpanHasAttributes(
               OTelAttribute<int>("gl-cpp.status_code", code),
+              OTelAttribute<std::string>("gl-cpp.error.message", "not good"),
               OTelAttribute<std::string>("gcloud.error.domain", "domain")))));
 
   span = MakeSpan("metadata");
@@ -225,6 +229,7 @@ TEST(OpenTelemetry, EndSpanImplErrorInfo) {
           SpanWithStatus(opentelemetry::trace::StatusCode::kError, "not good"),
           SpanHasAttributes(
               OTelAttribute<int>("gl-cpp.status_code", code),
+              OTelAttribute<std::string>("gl-cpp.error.message", "not good"),
               OTelAttribute<std::string>("gcloud.error.metadata.k1", "v1"),
               OTelAttribute<std::string>("gcloud.error.metadata.k2", "v2")))));
 }