diff --git a/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py b/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
index ed5e0aad..10c49c2f 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/apihandlers/users.py
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ class UserNamedServerAPIHandler(APIHandler):
             raise web.HTTPError(400, "Named servers are not enabled.")
         user = self.find_user(name)
         if user is None:
-            raise web.HTTPError(404, "No such user %r" % name)
+            raise web.HTTPError(404, "No such user '%s'" % name)
         
         options = self.get_json_body()
         yield self.spawn_single_user(user, server_name, options=options)
@@ -241,19 +241,19 @@ class UserNamedServerAPIHandler(APIHandler):
             raise web.HTTPError(400, "Named servers are not enabled.")
         user = self.find_user(name)
         if user is None:
-            raise web.HTTPError(404, "No such user %r" % name)
+            raise web.HTTPError(404, "No such user '%s'" % name)
         if server_name not in user.spawners:
-            raise web.HTTPError(404, "%s has no server named %r" % (name, server_name))
+            raise web.HTTPError(404, "%s has no server named '%s'" % (name, server_name))
         spawner = user.spawners[server_name]
         if spawner._stop_pending:
             self.set_status(202)
             return
         if not user.running(server_name):
-           raise web.HTTPError(400, "%s's server %r is not running" % (name, server_name))
+           raise web.HTTPError(400, "%s's server %s is not running" % (name, server_name))
         # include notify, so that a server that died is noticed immediately
         status = yield spawner.poll_and_notify()
         if status is not None:
-            raise web.HTTPError(400, "%s's server %r is not running" % (name, server_name))
+            raise web.HTTPError(400, "%s's server %s is not running" % (name, server_name))
         yield self.stop_single_user(user, server_name)
         status = 202 if spawner._stop_pending else 204
         self.set_status(status)
diff --git a/jupyterhub/app.py b/jupyterhub/app.py
index 433cf096..4b92e88d 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/app.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/app.py
@@ -928,9 +928,9 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
             try:
                 yield gen.maybe_future(self.authenticator.add_user(user))
             except Exception:
-                self.log.exception("Error adding user %r already in db", user.name)
+                self.log.exception("Error adding user %s already in db", user.name)
                 if self.authenticator.delete_invalid_users:
-                    self.log.warning("Deleting invalid user %r from the Hub database", user.name)
+                    self.log.warning("Deleting invalid user %s from the Hub database", user.name)
                     db.delete(user)
                 else:
                     self.log.warning(dedent("""
@@ -993,7 +993,7 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
                 created = False
                 if obj is None:
                     created = True
-                    self.log.debug("Adding %s %r to database", kind, name)
+                    self.log.debug("Adding %s %s to database", kind, name)
                     obj = Class(name=name)
                     db.add(obj)
                     db.commit()
@@ -1118,7 +1118,7 @@ class JupyterHub(Application):
                 parts.append('admin')
             for name, spawner in sorted(user.spawners.items(), key=itemgetter(0)):
                 if spawner.server:
-                    parts.append('%r running at %s' % (name, spawner.server))
+                    parts.append('%s:%s running at %s' % (user.name, name, spawner.server))
             return ' '.join(parts)
 
         @gen.coroutine
diff --git a/jupyterhub/spawner.py b/jupyterhub/spawner.py
index 597cf95f..0abada4b 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/spawner.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/spawner.py
@@ -51,11 +51,11 @@ class Spawner(LoggingConfigurable):
     _proxy_pending = False
     _waiting_for_response = False
 
+    authenticator = Any()
+    hub = Any()
     orm_spawner = Any()
     user = Any()
-    hub = Any()
-    authenticator = Any()
-    orm_spawner = Any()
+
     @property
     def server(self):
         if self.orm_spawner and self.orm_spawner.server:
diff --git a/jupyterhub/user.py b/jupyterhub/user.py
index 7bc26f88..720c0897 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/user.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/user.py
@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ class User(HasTraits):
     def _log_default(self):
         return app_log
 
+    spawners = None
     settings = Dict()
 
     db = Any(allow_none=True)
@@ -103,7 +104,10 @@ class User(HasTraits):
         # db session changed, re-get orm User
         db = change.new
         if self._user_id is not None:
+            # fetch our orm.User from the new db session
             self.orm_user = db.query(orm.User).filter(orm.User.id == self._user_id).first()
+        # update our spawners' ORM objects with the new session,
+        # which can be found on our new orm_user.
         for name, spawner in self.spawners.items():
             spawner.orm_spawner = self.orm_user.orm_spawners[name]
 
@@ -116,8 +120,6 @@ class User(HasTraits):
         else:
             self._user_id = None
 
-    spawners = None
-
     @property
     def authenticator(self):
         return self.settings.get('authenticator', None)