diff --git a/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/attention/packet/AttentionExtension.java b/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/attention/packet/AttentionExtension.java
index cdc47d2cc..c107fe5c3 100644
--- a/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/attention/packet/AttentionExtension.java
+++ b/smack-extensions/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smackx/attention/packet/AttentionExtension.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.jivesoftware.smackx.attention.packet;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.ExtensionElement;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.XmlEnvironment;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.provider.ExtensionElementProvider;
+import org.jivesoftware.smack.util.XmlStringBuilder;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.xml.XmlPullParser;
 
 /**
@@ -69,11 +70,8 @@ public class AttentionExtension implements ExtensionElement {
      * @see org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.PacketExtension#toXML()
      */
     @Override
-    public String toXML(org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.XmlEnvironment enclosingNamespace) {
-        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
-        sb.append('<').append(getElementName()).append(" xmlns=\"").append(
-                getNamespace()).append("\"/>");
-        return sb.toString();
+    public XmlStringBuilder toXML(org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.XmlEnvironment enclosingNamespace) {
+        return new XmlStringBuilder(this).closeEmptyElement();
     }
 
     /**